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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25919131">The Poison Garden</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/octobertown/pseuds/octobertown'>octobertown</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Actual Blow Jobs, Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Corporate, Angst, Background Obitine, Background Reylo, Biting, Bondage, Choking, Cold Showers, Crimson Dawn (Star Wars), Cunnilingus, Daddy Maul - Freeform, Decadence, Degenerative Character Arc, Dirty Talk, Everyone’s legal and consenting, Ezra’s got a gravity bong, F/M, Fall from grace and other Milton-shaped references, Fellatio, Grey Jedi, Libeal use of BOTH "C" words, Live Deliciously, Low-key minor character death, M/M, Mashed Canon Timelines, Masturbation, Maul is a switch, Maul needs a hug, Maulsoka, More Power Dynamics, Non-Consensual Spanking, Plants That Can Kill You and Other Cautionary Tales, Power Dynamics, Praise Kink, Profanity, Recreational Drug Use, Sex, Sleeping with the enemy, Smut, So much smut, Somewhere between dark/grey fic and the dankest crackfic exists this story, Spanking, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, Violence, a Twisted Happily Ever After, attempted blow jobs, background Kanera, background anidala, background finnpoe - Freeform, background gingerose, bratty!Ahsoka, crime lord AU, dance with the devil, please don't tell my mom I wrote this</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 03:33:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>68,171</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25919131</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/octobertown/pseuds/octobertown</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What do two intoxicated people do at a work party when both are trying to avoid their responsibilities for just one night? </p><p>On the celebratory eve of Rebel Inc.’s acquisition by their evil overlord corporation, Malachor Corp., newly minted CTO, Ahsoka Tano, opts for one last hurrah before the news breaks that she’s been promoted. Mourning the loss of her mentor, concerned for her future, and utterly trashed by ten p.m., Ahsoka has a chance encounter on the dancefloor that changes everything. </p><p>Time is money, money is power, power is freedom. But even the wealthy and powerful need a little help blowing off steam, and thank GOODNESS Maul has Asajj to help in that department. Not that he asked her, of course.</p><p>--</p><p> </p><p>  <i>Decadence, drugs, dancing, and lots of smut: A <b>Maulsoka</b> Corporate AU.</i></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Darth Maul &amp; Ahsoka Tano, Darth Maul/Ahsoka Tano</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>116</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>177</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Indescribably Delicious Fanfiction, Maulsoka Fanfic Writers (Discord), Star Wars Multishippers</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Larkspur</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This fic suffers complete disregard for canonical timelines, wherein characters are alive together and within the same age groups — and in some cases, are even friends — because you know what? Fuck it all. Fuck the history. Fuck Maul up against a wall.</p><p>This story was born out of a series of images stumbled upon at random on Pinterest one night with Maul in a three piece suit that damn near killed me. The CEO of Malachor Corp. was born.</p><p>The rest is gratuitous sex, violence, and more sex, and I’m such maulsoka trash that I’m not even stopping myself.</p><p>Not sorry.</p><p>Not one bit.</p><p>What I can say in advance of launching into the fray is that I set myself a few goals: push a few writerly limits, challenge myself to write an erotic dynamic as the primary (ahem) thrust, arrive at the middle, and then kick the heavy object sitting on the edge of the precipice straight over the ledge, sliding into a degenerative character arc that echoes the whole way down. Suffice to say that this is the opposite of how I’d normally treat the pairing. Being a lover of the classic slow burn, I wanted to turn the trope around: open with heat, create suspicion, and then fuck shit up. Fingers crossed that I’ve succeeded.</p><p>There are a number of influences at play here, and I’d be remiss to not credit <i>Lore Olympus</i>, the 1995 movie <i>Hackers</i>, and of course, FancyMaul, without whose artwork this story (and Paul) would not exist.</p><p>Thank you for your time, and please enjoy.</p>
    </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p><b>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:</b> August 21, 2021. (New York, NY) Malachor Corp. announced today that it has acquired majority ownership of software developer, Rebel Inc., from Skywalker and partners. Rebel Inc. President and interim CEO, Obi-Wan Kenobi, who spent eighteen years of his career with Je’dai Group, stated, “We are eager to join forces with such a renowned development firm. The marriage of our software engineering team and Malachor Corp.’s is an auspicious union of the creative and technical.”<br/>Rebel Inc.’s CTO, Ahsoka Tano, helms the new division’s app development and direction.<br/>“Malachor Corp.’s CEO [Maul] will be working closely with our CTO in the upcoming months,” said Kenobi.<br/>Ms. Tano was unavailable for comment.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p></p><div class="center">
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</div><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p><br/>Rain struck the greenhouse roof, sending rivulets trickling in colliding streams. Beyond the glass, the lights of New York were wreathed in fog, obscured into dull impressions of others, like him, who’d yet to retreat for the night. On the street below, sixty-six floors down, they scurried like rats seeking shelter: a writhing mass of life and music, the cacophony of their screams and laughter leaving him untouched and unaffected in his tower. Alone, but not at rest.</p><p>Water burbled from the fountain to the koi pond, the scent of the verdure around him fecund and full in the back of his throat — as ripe as the rainforest floor. The perfume of night-blooming creepers stilled the roar of anger he felt following the departure of the board of trustees.</p><p>The meeting had only just adjourned, the floor dimmed for the nighttime cleaning crew. He imagined he could still scent the lingering pall of Palpatine’ cologne on the air in the elevator as he’d declined celebratory drinks, electing to escape to his rooftop refuge to wait out the storm.</p><p>Maul shuttered his eyes against the night, his reflection obscured in the glass, though his features — if he could see them — would reveal nothing but practiced resolve. That he’d loosened his tie was the only indicator that he’d spent himself thoroughly, mitigating the problem before it could bloom into something uncontrollable: a hostile takeover.</p><p>He bared his teeth, growling at nothing: a precursor to the interruption he felt as the intercom blipped to life.</p><p>“You’re not sulking, are you?”</p><p>Maul cracked his neck, the static hum through the hydraulic door raising his hackles to a steady bristle. He’d have them cut the two-way tomorrow, elsewise he’d rip the damned thing out of the wall himself to avoid further interruptions. How Hux had snuck into the top floor wasn’t beyond him — the man, by Snoke’s definition, was a cur and an opportunist. Doubtless, he’d leveraged a connection to sneak onto Maul’s private apartments — called in a favour, no doubt — which meant that whatever Hux stood to gain from this little intervention was worth risking his position, and possibly life and limb, to seek Maul out. Fortunate for him, most doors of the penthouse level were sealed to anyone else but the CEO of Malachor Corp.</p><p>The little green light that said the intruder to his sanctuary lingered just beyond his sight, waiting for a response, had him making fists in the pockets of his tailored slacks.</p><p>“I know you’re in there,” the posh and pomp of the British accent left him bristling. “Pryde is wagering bottle service for the entire night on his dime that you were too pissed to play nice. Won’t even make a showing. ‘Wouldn’t show his ugly face’ were his exact words.”</p><p>Maul bared his teeth at the small, silver box from which Hux’s voice emanated.</p><p>“It’s not like it’s a <em>merger</em>, you know —“ Hux continued. Maul could imagine him picking at his nails. “The result of this little adjustment is resulting in billions in revenue, most of which ends up in your pocket.”</p><p>That wasn’t the point. With Palpatine sitting on the board as Chairman, money was never the point.</p><p>“They seemed pleased at the prospects at least. On paper, at least, the brains of the operation alone is worth the whole three hundred and fifty million.”</p><p>Opportunity cost, Maul had explained: if he couldn’t get the hire he wanted, he’d take the entire bloody company and her with it. The board didn’t share his reasoning, regrettably.</p><p>“An invaluable investment, you ask me,” Hux said. “A pity you haven’t met the protégé yet.”</p><p>He shut his eyes briefly. And that was the whole of the predicament, wasn’t it: the numbers supported his decision, but Sidious didn’t often trust his feelings on the matter. What Sidious understood was that with enough money, one had the power to gather possible competition to one’s breast, turning them into either an ally or a weapon. Sometimes both.</p><p>On the other side of the door, Hux sighed. Bristling, Maul loomed before the little datapad. He punched it with a finger to reveal the little pinch-faced, ginger-haired weasel on the monitor, looking bored.</p><p>He rolled his eyes up to the camera, and Maul bared his teeth.</p><p>Hux appeared to smirk. “It was rather a lot of zeroes on the prospectus.”</p><p>His rooftop garden, it seemed, would offer no solace to him that night.</p><p>“Open communications channel,” he growled at the communications device.</p><p>“I could just tell them you had a tummy ache?” Hux offered, pursing his lower lip.</p><p>“Remind me why I don’t fire you for insubordination,” he purred.</p><p>Hux, to his credit, straightened with militaristic precision. A smirk tugged at his mouth.</p><p>“Boss,” he greeted him. “I thought it would be insult enough were I to attempt defence of your honour in your stead.”</p><p>“You assumed correctly.” He paused, scrutinizing him. “You’ve a wager with Pryde,” he surmised. “And you endeavour to win.”</p><p>Hux raised a perfect, arch eyebrow.</p><p>“And your success is contingent on my appearance at this —” He repressed an inward shudder. “Fete.”</p><p>Hux bowed his head. “Also, my Lord --“</p><p>Maul didn’t even scoff at the moniker, his sense of foreboding growing heavier the longer he contemplated the younger man.</p><p>“Perhaps a small celebration of tonight’s success would do well for your disposition.”</p><p>Rest and quietude would have done wonders. A time meditating in the garden under the rain. Silence. Not alcohol and scantily clad females in a darkened club, cordoned off behind a velvet rope in a section restricted to their party — a party he had no desire to celebrate with to begin with.</p><p>“Consider it a bold PR move,” Hux pressed. “’Reserved billionaire and prodigal apprentice to Mr. Palpatine seen moonlighting in Manhattan. Yes, it’s rumoured that he’s just co-signed for another expansion project — making him the third-most wealthy and eligible bachelor in the city.” In a falsetto, he chimed in, “‘But I thought he was gay?’” “Not so, ladies. Not so. He’s dark, brooding, and intensely charming when the mood strikes him. Rather fit. Obscenely wealthy. Discrete bordering on secretive, but pertaining to his exploits he suffers an asceticism that can’t possibly be good for the health of his balls. Practically a monk, really, though perplexingly handsome — if you can see past the facial tattoos.’”</p><p>“How much, Mr. Hux.”</p><p>Hux gave the camera a dull look.</p><p>“But who could put a price on the value of experience when one’s personal life is so casually buried under the toils of running one branch of a multinational conglomerate.”</p><p>“Hux.”</p><p>Hux straightened his tie, and looked dead at the camera. “Rather a lot of zeroes.”</p><p>A muscle ticked in Maul’s jaw. He glanced at his wristwatch. Straightened. Reset the knot of his tie and smoothed his waistcoat, his jacket.</p><p>He was not a man who endeavoured to owe anyone anything, but favours were valuable commodity when called in — and for this, Hux would owe him a life debt.</p><p>The door slid open with a wave of his hand and a hydraulic hiss. It sealed and locked after him.</p><p>Eyes-narrowed with some smug sort of pride, Hux offered him a brief nod, standing back to follow at his left shoulder.</p><p>“You’ll tend to Paul,” he informed him.</p><p>He was gratified to see Hux at least attempt to stop rolling his eyes. “Dinner and a walk before nappy naps?”</p><p>Placid, uninviting, Maul only stared until Hux capitulated with a terse nod.</p><p>When Maul walked, Hux followed. Well-trained.</p><p>“The towncar?” he offered.</p><p>Inwardly, Maul groaned. The towncar meant a driver and a revel that certainly wouldn’t end until the sun broke the skyline. Not needing to drive himself meant he’d be free to indulge, and as Hux would insist, he’d need to play the proper host.</p><p>“My guests?” His lip curled.</p><p>“Just you in the car, sir,” Hux assured him — the others would be there already, no doubt. Hux’s scheming meant the delay would afford him the opportunity for an “entrance.”</p><p>The descent to the building’s entrance was only punctuated by the woosh and swish of the elevator doors, and then the steady, sharp clip of their soles against the marble floors. Hux handed him his aviators, which Maul donned without ceremony.</p><p>He turned, giving the shorter man a once over.</p><p>“Thank you, Maul,” Hux said without preamble.</p><p>Maul only grunted. A glance up through the lobby revealed a desolate building, the floors cleared for the night —</p><p>Unusual, given that there were enough ambitious, driven souls in his company that committed more hours to their advancement than was strictly necessary.</p><p>Perhaps this wasn’t the small get-together with the Board that he’d wanted to avoid after all.</p><p>“Just who is on the guest list, Armitage.”</p><p>A small twinkle of amusement lingered in Hux’s icey gaze. His second had been withholding the best for last, it seemed:</p><p>“Everyone, my Lord,” Hux confirmed.</p><p>No, not the intimate velvet-roped tete-a-tete he’d been dreading.</p><p>It was worse.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>“You’re sure they’re not sleeping together?”</p><p>Rose’s attention lingered at the two figures at the end of the bar, one towering over the other, though the shorter of the pair was glaring daggers up at the taller of the two.</p><p>Ahsoka, rolling her champagne glass against her lips, considered her newest intern and the rapidity at which Rey’s hair was starting to fray from tension — a symptom, no doubt, of negotiating with Malachor Corp.’s Technical Director. Ahsoka had met the man: Kylo Ren was a domineering, intense sort with a penchant for black attire who abused his haircare products.</p><p>“How can they be?” Ahsoka asked. “They’ve only just met.”</p><p>Rose raised her eyebrows, her straw a hostage between her teeth. “Have you seen the bathrooms in this place? Even <em>I </em>would be okay hooking up with someone who looks like <em>that</em> in one of those stalls.”</p><p>Ahsoka blinked. “How did you get promoted again?”</p><p>Her Human Resources Director winked, waving her friends down beyond her shoulder. A glance revealed Finn and Poe making their way across the crowded dance floor, intent on joining them nearest the bartender.</p><p>“I had an in with the executives.” She preened, nudging Ahsoka in the arm. “Word is, <em>someone</em> put in a good word for me.”</p><p>Right. That. Ahsoka worried for a moment that she might live to regret that one, given the rapidity at which Rebel Inc. situation had changed. It had been one of her last recommendations to Anakin before —</p><p>“Hey!” Poe leaned in, giving her an air kiss hello. Finn grasped her arm, but he knocked his cheek into hers with a little less grace. “So this place is insane.”</p><p>“Wait til you see the office on Monday,” Rose promised. “It makes this place look like a trash barge.”</p><p>Polished concrete. Multiple chill out rooms. Three dance floors. Four levels. Six bars. And the place was packed from wall to wall with employees of the newly acquired Rebel Inc. co-mingling with their adoptive team. It was an HR nightmare, but that was Rose’s problem and not hers, and for that, Ahsoka thanked the divine Force for the fact that Malachor Corp. hadn’t made them sign any wavers for conduct beyond a standard NDA. </p><p>“Whoa — who’s Rey with?” Finn said, catching sight of the ‘discussion’ that was taking place at the far end of the bar.</p><p>A blue-haired head popped up in the crowd, and Ezra waved his drink. His other hand, it appeared, was similarly occupied. Behind him, Sabine followed at a slow inch forward. She paused as Rey did: the scene set in tableau — the smaller woman moved like a lightning strike, her arm shooting forward, a golden arc of bubbling liquid soaring upwards as she pitched her drink in Kylo Ren’s face.</p><p>It seemed for a moment as if the air was sucked from the room, a hollow vacuum in space and time before the blare of dubstep crashed back in. Ezra lingered a moment longer, his mouth hanging open in surprise as Sabine attempted to shove their youngest product designer into motion instead of staring at the train wreck that had just occurred.</p><p>Rose, at least, had the gall to say, “Oh no,” before she took off to attempt damage control —</p><p>Kylo Ren lingered, wiping his face and considering his hand a moment too long afterwards, rubbed his fingers together against the champagne. When he turned, Rey was gone.</p><p>The designers arrived, breathless and looking back at the brooding swath of storm cloud before Kylo Ren swept off into the club.</p><p>Ahsoka raised an eyebrow in silent question.</p><p>“I heard them,” Ezra said, a little breathy. “As I was passing by --“</p><p>Sabine shook her head, stealing Ezra’s second drink and knocking it back. She set it on the bar with a finality.</p><p>“I think he tried to neg her?”</p><p>Finn scoffed. “He deserved it, then.”</p><p>“I wouldn’t say that too loud,” Poe said, slinging an arm around Finn’s waist. “These Malachor guys — I heard they’re pretty hard, you know?”</p><p>Sabine pulled a face. “You mean they go HAM —”</p><p>“I’m just saying these guys know how to get into it. And end it.”</p><p>“We are Malachor guys, guys,” Ezra supplied.</p><p>“Malachor <em>people</em>,” Sabine corrected, waving at the bartender to get his attention. “Goodbye Rebel Inc. Hello evil corporate overlords —“ She ordered her drink — something involving vodka — by gesticulating alone.</p><p>“Not yet,” Ahsoka said. “We’re still operating as a subsidiary — our whole infrastructure isn’t changing —”</p><p>“Yet,” said Poe.</p><p>“It’s not so bad,” offered Finn. “As far as last hurrah’s go, this isn’t the worst.” He gestured around them at the party. “Open bar. Good company. Okay-ish music.”</p><p>“You’re supposed to mingle,” said Rose, reappearing over his shoulder. “We want you guys to get to know who you’ll be working with starting next week. Get a little loose — find out how they do things. This party is for us — the scrappy start-up that caught Malachor Corp.’s eye.”</p><p>“They’ve been courting us a good long while,” supplied Ahsoka, still nursing her beverage. She’d yet to take a sip. In truth, her stomach was bubbling enough without the booze.</p><p>“Anakin was thinking of all our futures when he brokered the deal.”</p><p>“Right,” said Finn. “You mean: Got <em>paid</em>! Got <em>paid</em>! Got <em>paid</em>!”</p><p>Poe pinched him, pressing a kiss and a growl of something into Finn’s ear. Probably a warning to dial it down.</p><p>“Nah,” said Finn. “Nah love, not tonight. Tonight it’s 1999.”</p><p>“It’s 2021,” Poe deadpanned.</p><p>“Well we’re gonna party like it’s the former,” Finn said, taking a swig of his drink: clear, with a wedge of lime.</p><p>If Ahsoka’s stomach was in knots as a baseline, the mention of Rebel Inc.’s former CEO left her empty. She hadn’t heard from her former mentor in weeks, and while her team was too nice to mention it, Ahsoka was familiar with the rumours:</p><p>Anakin Skywalker had vanished. It spread that after he’d been bought out by Palpatine, he’d taken an extended vacation somewhere in the South Pacific, something likened to a permanent vacation. No cellular. No satellite. No homing beacon. Voicemail perma-full.</p><p>With his CFO left holding the reigns, she knew Obi-Wan was trying his best to smooth out the acquisition for his employees, but as a recent widow, he’d been struggling.</p><p>It fell to her, then, to try to make the best of a complicated situation. The promotion she’d been awarded was a safety net, she thought: not the fulfilment of any sort of ambition. But the money was nice, and the security should have put her at ease with everything else going on. Her parents, she imagined, might’ve been proud to see their daughter reach executive-level before her 28<sup>th</sup> birthday.</p><p>Chief Technology Officer. What a trip.</p><p>That she’d been thinking of leaving Rebel Inc. prior to the acquisition, worried of what it might mean for the future of the company — that wasn’t what she’d told Obi-Wan, or Anakin, or anyone at all, really, since there hadn’t been anyone else <em>to</em> tell.</p><p>She’d expected fully that the integrity of their product was likely to degrade as Rebel Inc.’s core values changed in the face of Malachor Corp’s aggressive KPIs. It happened all the time: Malachor Corp. was a devourer of lesser entities, eradicating what stood in its way otherwise. They had the power to blast stars out of orbit, and the money to fund it.</p><p>Now, trapped — shouldered with the responsibility of the Tech department, absent her mentor, and struggling with her new duties — Ahsoka looked at her team and wished Rex was still amongst them. She missed her dev leads: her architects and arbiters. Her boys. Her friends. They weren’t coming along for the ride, but their code was, and it was proprietary to Malachor Corp. now.</p><p>She wet her lip with a swish of champagne, pretending to hear what Finn was telling his boyfriend; pretending to ignore the passage of a small baggie between the hands of the designers while Rose turned the other way. Sabine eyed her — giving her a look that said Hera wasn’t around to tattle.</p><p>Her promotion hadn’t been announced yet.</p><p>Ahsoka remained one of theirs, still. One of them.</p><p>Ezra passed it on, and when the bag fell to her fingers, Ahsoka hesitated, running her nail over the pressed pills that remained. A small symbol was debossed into the surface, but under the dim lights, she couldn’t make out the marking.</p><p>“It’s a sunbird,” Sabine said into her ear. “I thought that appropriate.”</p><p>A small, wry smile played around the younger woman’s mouth. Something to help them rise from the ashes of their little startup’s destruction.</p><p>“Do I want to know what this is?”</p><p>Sabine chuckled, Ezra eyeing them back and forth. He closed their circle so whatever passed between them could be hidden from prying eyes.</p><p>“It’s a last hurrah,” Sabine said, a touch too lightly.</p><p>“You smuggled in contraband.”</p><p>Sabine arched an eyebrow.</p><p>“Security wasn’t that thorough. This might look like a rave but it’s still an office party.”</p><p>Dangerous. Delinquent even — what would Anakin say, she wondered.</p><p>Probably nothing. He’d probably join them.</p><p>Obi-Wan would pitch a fit. He was all about the rules and their upkeep and making a good impression and all those ideals that she’d need to shoulder come Monday morning.</p><p>Stars.</p><p>That seemed entirely too soon.</p><p>Ezra’s eyebrows crept into his hairline, giddiness leaving him bouncing on his heels as Sabine took the bag back.</p><p>“I’m absolving you of your conscience,” she said, opening the baggy, fingers too deft to be doing anything good. Ahsoka peered over their heads, catching Poe bobbing his head and Finn telling him not to, and Rose reappearing.</p><p>“Don’t worry about them,” Sabine said. “The rest of the gang will be on the floor in no time.”</p><p>“Open bar,” Ezra chimed in. “On five floors.”</p><p>“Four,” Ahsoka corrected absently.</p><p>“Nuh uh — there’s a grotto in the basement. Checked it out earlier.”</p><p>She stared.</p><p>Ezra opened his mouth. Closed it. Scrubbed the back of his head. “So I did a little reading up before tonight to get an idea of the digs.” He shrugged. “I’m not so sure company money is all that’s floating this place.”</p><p>“Intriguing,” said Sabine.</p><p>“Speculative,” countered Ahsoka, folding her arms across her chest.</p><p>Ezra lifted a shoulder. “It’s rumoured that Malachor Corp. has a couple of questionable backers. Investors that are maybe possibly tied to the Shadow Collective?” He paused, no doubt seeing the expression on her face. “Say, Ashla —” He slugged her shoulder, her nickname weighted as if to soften her. “Have I mentioned you look damn good in that dress, tonight?”</p><p>She shifted her weight and thrust out a hip.</p><p>“Werk!” Poe called over.</p><p>Ezra grinned, the moment diffused.</p><p>“Don’t let them hear you saying that sort of thing,” she warned. “Let’s at least try and make an effort, okay? Give the evil overlords the benefit of the doubt for at least five minutes before dragging them with your dark web stuff.”</p><p>Rose waved, collecting another two flutes from a passing tray, twirling into their midst.</p><p>Ahsoka’d stayed for her team — what was left of it — and while they might acknowledge that things were changing, they still at least had one last night to be the scrappy startup that could still have some fun.</p><p>Sabine winked, but the baggy was gone.</p><p>“Bottoms up,” she said. “Remember to drink lots of water.”</p><p>If Ahsoka’s drink fizzed a little more exuberantly, she didn’t comment on it.</p><p>Rose squeezed between them, telling her in a rush, “I caught up to him,” she said, breathless. “It’ll be fine. Rey and Ren were debating the merits of —“ She waved. “Something. Fiber optics over co-ax? I don’t know. Some internet thing that warrants a difference of opinion and it got heated. He called Rey ‘spirited’ which doesn’t exactly warrant a warning —“</p><p>Sabine dematerialized into a group of suits, claiming something about meeting Connix on the dance floor on the third level. Ezra beat a hasty retreat after that, giving her a wave and a nervous grin.</p><p>“Find me, if there’s anything —“ he trailed off.</p><p>Ahsoka trailed him, wincing away from the bright lights of the dance floor beyond.</p><p>“Are you okay?” Rose asked, touching her arm briefly.</p><p>She took a hasty sip of bubbles, wanting to wet her palette.</p><p>Fortunately, Rose didn’t wait for a reply: her gaze drifting to a point indeterminate beyond Ahsoka’s shoulder, back towards the entrance of the club.</p><p>“Oh, he’s here,” Rose said, straightening her skirt, knocking back her drink and standing two inches taller in her heels, on her tippy toes. She waved at someone. “My contact,” she said in a rush. “He’s been facilitating the transition and helping me with the finer points of moving our employees to the Malachor HR database. <em>So</em> knowledgable. He’s really gone above and beyond —”</p><p>Ahsoka didn’t have the chance to ask who as Rose was already easing past her. “We’ll catch up later, okay? Go mingle! And don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” she tossed over her shoulder, which left for a very narrow window, If Ahsoka was being particular about it.</p><p>For barely five feet in height, Rose cut a purposeful path through the crowd, smiling warmly at a pale young man with violent red hair who’d stepped into the building. She thrust a hand out, which he caught, stopping Rose in her tracks as the gesture bled from a handshake into —</p><p>Ahsoka stopped, her glass hovering before her mouth in surprise, and stared as the red-headed man in the immaculate suit lifted Rose’s hand to his lips and placed a delicate but lingering kiss on her knuckles.</p><p>The fuck?</p><p>She took the opportunity to nope herself into a one-eighty towards the bar, pouring the rest of her champagne flute down her throat and wincing at the slightly bitter aftertaste.</p><p>In an unpleasant turn, she found that Finn and Poe had likewise melded into the crowd, probably meandering to the next watering fount, and was left by herself, no allies in sight, and under the shadow of a towering woman with silvery hair who peered down at Ahsoka long enough to recognize that she too, desperately needed another drink.</p><p>“Phasma,” she offered drily, her eyes lingering on the spectacle behind them, her expression blandly amused at the whole affair. “Welcome to the team, Ms. Tano.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Oleander</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Time is money, money is power, power is freedom. But even the wealthy and powerful need a little help blowing off steam, and thank GOODNESS Maul has Asajj to help in that department. Not that Maul asked for help, of course.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I told myself I'd wait until Saturday to post this. It's not the first time I've broken my own promises.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The difference between brooding in the dark of his penthouse home and brooding in the dark of one of his pleasure establishments was that one remained considerably easier to endure than the other. The throng of life that spilled between floors, crackling with laughter and loose from inebriation, might not’ve affected him so were it not for the fact that he’d eased into the VIP section without removing his glasses and with hardly a pause, been accosted by none other than Dooku’s current protégé. Ward. Lover? With Asajj, one could never be certain. Colleague, certainly. She wasn’t one of <em>theirs</em>, in any case, but her seat on the board went unchallenged once appointed, and for that, Maul was at least partially grateful that he could keep tabs on whatever nefarious diversions Palpatine was cooking up.</p><p>Asajj was perhaps the least trustworthy of his associates, but in all that they’d accomplished together, he at least considered her an ally. One might even call them friends, if he’d had any to speak of.</p><p>She slipped past the velvet barrier before the door to the VIP,her fingers snaking up his arm as she stopped him.</p><p>Ventress’ grip on his bicep gave him pause, and turning her grey eyes up to his, she arched an eyebrow and purred, “Consider this fair warning.”</p><p>Bollocks, he thought, but then the scent of oud cologne assaulted him, and he just <em>knew</em> —</p><p>She released him, murmuring in a bored purr, “Find me in the red room once you’re unburdened.”</p><p>He stared, his mind whirring — the mechanisms of calculation and measure already at play, weighing the worst case scenario and how he might adjust the course of things to his advantage.</p><p>Palpatine. Here. Unguarded.</p><p>“You’ve a proposition to discuss?” he murmured to Asajj.</p><p>“Nothing so serious, brother.” She straightened his lapel, brushing off some invisible lint. “Just that I’d invite your charming company instead of languishing amidst this motley collection of walking corpses.” She rolled her eyes back to the VIP lounge. “Honestly, it’s like a visit to the Tomb of Tutankhamen in there.”</p><p>“Oh?” he asked. “Have you been grave robbing, my dear?”</p><p>Her smile was enigmatic. Doubtless, she’d been up to something equally sordid.</p><p>Maul breathed heavily through his nose, giving a stiff nod to a paling Pryde as Ventress slipped by. The way Pryde rose at a jerk and staggered out with a tight smile, Maul considered that the figure he’d awarded Hux by putting in this appearance couldn’t be half as precious as the expression on Pryde’s face for losing the bet.</p><p>Smoothing a hand down his front, Maul stood amidst the members of his board of directors and before the man he’d hoped to avoid until their next report meeting, his facade in place, his expression schooled.</p><p>Palpatine smiled without teeth, his knobbly hands crumpled around his ebony walking stick, the drapery of his suit robing him as if in shadows. When he leaned forward to greet his protégé, Maul offered a nod to the other shocked faces of his board members, and found his appointed place at the right hand of doom.</p><p>“Sheev,” he greeted him with a nod. “What a surprise.”</p><p>Dooku, on Palpatine’s other side, acknowledged him with a nod, and turned away, poised to listen and observe, but not to interrupt.</p><p>Beyond him, Maul took in the other assortment of board members and executives who occupied the VIP: a litany of money and power with whom he shared council — Tarkin, Thrawn, Pryce, Sloane, Grievous, Kerrill, Hux Sr. — Krennic in the corner speaking with the waitress. The usual suspects. None would stay long, all would stay just long enough to witness the informal dressing down that he’d endure.</p><p>If one thing was certain: Maul was groomed to be their prized whipping boy.</p><p>“Ordinarily I’d be off for a spot of dinner and a nightcap, my boy,” said Sheev. “But I could hardly miss popping into your victory party. This is quite a turn out.”</p><p>Maul settled in, slipping his glasses off and folding them away into a pocket. Unbuttoning his jacket, he eased back into the chair so that he and Palpatine occupied the same eyeline, regarding their demesne with carefully crafted indifference. He crossed his legs, his elbows on the rests, and waited for Sheev’s proclamation.</p><p>When the silence continued to drag on, Maul broke first.</p><p>“You don’t often attend these things,” he remarked. “Surely whatever it is that’s brought you out is important enough to circumvent the niceties.”</p><p>“Straight to the point, as ever, Maul.”</p><p>He levelled his stare at the Chairman.</p><p>“Time is money.”</p><p>Sheev’s smile held, but it appeared to whither at the edges.</p><p>“Money is power,” he answered.</p><p>Maul allowed a small smirk.</p><p>“Power is freedom.”</p><p>That placid smile remained on Palpatine’s face. “I’d cheers to that, but I find myself without a glass.”</p><p>“A problem soon remedied.” Maul gestured to the wait staff. “This is a celebration after all. We should take the opportunity to indulge.”</p><p>That stare did nothing to placate him. In fact, Maul found his heartbeat tripping over itself under the scrutiny of the Chairman.</p><p>“I wanted a little informal face to face time with my prodigal apprentice,” he said. “You’ve done well with this acquisition, the prospectus for this property is sound, and the accompanying roadmap this little —” He gestured.</p><p>“Rebel Inc,” Maul supplied.</p><p>Sheev waved it off, continuing, “— This roadmap Rebel Inc. surrendered is thorough. I’m quite pleased with all of it.” </p><p>“As you mentioned during our meeting. A surprise turn of course, as you were so adamantly opposed to this little project of mine.”</p><p>“Surely, anyone can see the inherent risks. The field of medical technology grows at an exponential rate, my boy — but one might not gain the rewards without suffering losses along the way in the name of science.”</p><p>Maul stared. Palpatine held his gaze.</p><p>His palms began to sweat, the suggest of a threat veiled with the composure of two businessmen sharing their concerns with the sort of eloquence that belied every other argument that had led to this moment.</p><p>The waiter brought out a bottle for the group, and Maul turned, his voice at an even pitch, and said, “No, the <em>Krug Clos d'Ambonnay</em>, please. The 1995.” His attention never left Sidious’ face. “Bring enough glasses for the group.”</p><p>Sidious steepled his fingers, a small, contemplative smile tugging his mouth up at the corners.</p><p>“You are pleased with the terms, then. As I recall this had been something of a struggle for you, Maul.”</p><p>“I feel we’ve reached an understanding, Sheev. With amenable results for all our interests.”</p><p>A beat. He let that sink:</p><p>Maul got the pet project he wanted, and Sidious kept his interests protected.</p><p>“Indeed,” he murmured. “And the company’s interim management — he seemed agreeable enough.”</p><p>Maul forced his hands to relax. “Mr. Kenobi is an adequate replacement for Skywalker.”</p><p>Palpatine raised an eyebrow. “I’m pleased to hear you’ve come around on that.”</p><p>Not like he’d had a choice, but Maul picked his battles, and he’d work with the defacto CEO as it appeared Skywalker wasn’t likely to make a return. Sidious had seen to that, but the particulars of their arrangement Sheev had handled privately.</p><p>“Where is that chap, I should like to better know this Obi-Wan Kenobi —“</p><p>“Pardon me, sir — but while I appreciate your acknowledgement of a job well done, I’d inquire as to the personal handling of the deal following its conclusion. What’s expected of me and my duties warrants a handshake at best.”</p><p>Sheev paused, regarding him with that probing look he favoured when it appeared he might sliver into an adversary’s brain to get to the truth.</p><p>“Are you satisfied, Maul?”</p><p>Maul turned, regarding him levelly.</p><p>“I am never satisfied, sir.”</p><p>Palpatine’s gaze narrowed. “That would explain the whispers I’ve been hearing about how you’ve otherwise occupied yourself outside of business hours.”</p><p>Maul tipped his head, his expression devoid of emotion. The waiter returned, presenting him with the new bottle of the reserve brut and a sip of the stuff, bubbling innocuously at the bottom of the glass.</p><p>Maul deferred to Sidious, allowing him to decide if the taste suited him.</p><p>His elder sipped at it, and something unspooled in Maul’s chest the moment the glass touched Sidious’ withered mouth.</p><p>The old man licked his lips. “You’ve spared no expense, I see. A fine year.”</p><p>Glasses were poured at a wave, and distributed to the group.</p><p>“This is the reserve, gentlemen and gentle ladies,” said Maul. He didn’t bother standing. “A toast to you all.”</p><p>Murmurs of appreciation as the board drank. Maul touched the glass to his lips, covering a smile.</p><p>He sniffed and set it down, his attention settling on the Chairman.</p><p>“Oh?” He inquired.</p><p>“It sounds as if you never tire, Maul,” Sheev continued. “That you never cease.”</p><p>He leaned back, assessing — a shrivelled wraith of a man who dripped influence and seethed anger at the mere whiff of betrayal.</p><p>“My work is never done, Sheev. You know that. You instilled those tenets in me from my infancy: one who never surrenders gains the spoils.”</p><p>“One hears things,” he continued. “Troubling things.”</p><p>Maul held his gaze. “What whispers would those be, Sheev? My personal life notwithstanding, I highly doubt you’ve any interest in exotic horticulture. My martial studies, perhaps?”</p><p>Palpatine’s knuckles whitened around the glass, and Maul glanced at the tremor of rage that made the golden liquid tremble.</p><p>“I am not taken to accommodating threats against my empire, Maul. Ever have I been swift to squash insurrections.”</p><p>The threat was evident, but Maul only frowned. “As anyone would be,” he offered. “Are you calling me to service, sir?”</p><p>Bearing his teeth, Palpatine considered this. “Do not play coy with me, boy. I am the cloth from which you were cut. I made and manufactured you.”</p><p>He leaned in, the slightest gesture catching Dooku’s attention at last. The man turned to stare.</p><p>“To undermine my authority in any matter might as well be treason, and lording secrets — orchestrating a web of ventures under the shaded obscurity of the underground — it would undermine everything we’ve built, Maul. It would discredit us. It would be our absolute and irrevocable ruin, should something so sordid come to light.”</p><p>He almost relaxed. Was that all? Oh, well, Maul thought.</p><p>“I agree, of course.”</p><p>“‘Of course,’” Palpatine spat.</p><p>Maul expelled a breath, his shoulders sagging as he slid down his chair. “For a moment, you had me concerned, Sheev.”</p><p>Palpatine might’ve quivered with unspent anger at the cheek. “Oh?”</p><p>“I’ve not the stamina for the spice trade, nor the connections to fund such ambitions, old friend.”</p><p>Pyke was long-dead, besides, not that it warranted mentioning — especially, Maul suspected, Palpatine had been singularly responsible for wiping out that chain of income.</p><p>“Nor the interest, I should hope,” Palpatine said.</p><p>Maul arched a brow, watching as Sheev took a swallow of champagne.</p><p>“Your ambitions keep me occupied enough. I haven’t the time for such nefarious undertakings as a coup d’etat, though I’m flattered you’d think me capable.”</p><p>Palpatine waited, simmering. “That is heartening to hear. One wouldn’t wish to overextend one’s reach — the results might have ill consequences for one’s health.”</p><p>A short drop and a sudden stop, Maul imagined.</p><p>He rolled his eyes up, offering a small, tight smile. He let the weariness glimmer briefly in his eyes.</p><p>“I am your servant, Sheev — now as ever. I only endeavour to ensure our plans executed in a manner that reflects well on our company today, and upon our bottom line tomorrow.”</p><p>“You’ll not sully our interests.”</p><p>“Nor the brand.” He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “This acquisition has been draining, but the results are sound — the projections perfect. We are prepared to move forward immediately in the effort to not undercut ourselves. No lost time. No squandered capital. No wasted resources.”</p><p>Waiting a beat, Palpatine studied him — searching for some hint of a lie in his words. He didn’t wholly appear convinced, but lacking in evidence to support his claims suggested that while he could search for a flaw in Maul’s designs, he didn’t yet have a leg to stand on.</p><p>“We will continue on the path as intended, and come this time next year, we’ll be celebrating the bounty of our efforts, and not just the mere promise of the sweat and blood to achieve it.”</p><p>Palpatine didn’t believe him, that much was clear.</p><p>The Chairman rose, his glass clinking to the table, drained to the last drop.</p><p>With his dramatic exit imminent, he bit out, “See to it.”</p><p>Dooku rose, flanking him, followed by a handful of the others as if taking their cue.</p><p>They filed out, the red velvet rope held aside as the board exited, one at a time, offering smirks and nods and murmurs of congratulations that fell flat.</p><p>Maul toasted them all, setting an ankle on his knee and contemplating the number of promised hostilities in Palpatine’s veiled threats.</p><p>One did not suffer fools in this business, but to succeed, neither did one take prisoners.</p><p>Maul smiled into the dark, alone but not uncomplicated as the weight of things shifted and settled him deeper into the cushions of his chair. Once they’d gone, he tipped the champagne over the arm, spilling it.</p><p>Everyone’s glasses remained, empty.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>“Sales,” Phasma offered, gesturing for another drink for the pair of them. “I work closely with the marketing department.”</p><p>She eyed Ahsoka’s glass, then directed the bartender to get something stronger than champagne.</p><p>When the bartender returned with two amber-coloured tumblers, she told him to hold the ice and passed one to Ahsoka.</p><p>She barely had change to glimpse the bottle to recognize it was reserve.</p><p>A sniff, and she flinched. It smelled like she imagined a bog body would.</p><p>“It’s good,” Phasma encouraged her. “From the distillery on Skye. Scotland,” she clarified.</p><p>“Is that —“ Ahsoka attempted, clearing her throat. “Your accent?”</p><p>Phasma waved it off. “I’m a transplant, but wrong isle.” She nodded at the door. “Hux brought me on as part of a restructure two years ago with the intention of whipping our numbers into better shape.”</p><p>“I take it you were successful?”</p><p>Phasma raised an eyebrow. “You’re here, aren’t you?”</p><p>Ahsoka opened her mouth, then closed it.</p><p>Phasma smirked. “I meant your team. Our initiatives contributed directly to the acquisition.”</p><p>“Oh —“ She felt her face heat. “I’m with Product. Dev, actually — I don’t usually get much exposure to budget mechanics.”</p><p>“I know,” she said, a twinkle of mirth leaving Ahsoka to shift her weight a little at being made fun of so obliquely. “Happy to help with that, when the occasion arises.”</p><p>She nodded at the door. “Happy to inform on a great many things, should it interest you.”</p><p>Raising her eyebrows, Ahsoka turned to find a line of suits exiting the restricted area to their left. It appeared that they were heading for the door.</p><p>“The Board,” said Phasma. “They’ve made their appearance, and now they’re leaving. That means the party’s <em>really</em> about to start.”</p><p>A glance into the darkened alcove beyond the shifting, shimmering curtain revealed an empty number of couches and chairs — empty, save for the one that was occupied. She caught a glimpse of black and red before the curtain swished shut partways.</p><p>“The executives?”</p><p>Phasma waved it off. “Some of them are around.” She waved her glass at Hux, his hand on Rose’s back, ushering her off to a spot more private, leaning down to contribute to the blush on her face as he spoke directly into her ear.</p><p>“One thing you’ll learn quickly is that the high rollers enjoy a good time as much as anyone else, they’re only — ah, perhaps better trained in discretion.”</p><p>Ahsoka sipped at the forest fire in her glass, and pulled a face.</p><p>Without missing a beat, Phasma plucked it from her hand. “—And perhaps somewhat more cultivated in their choice of libation.”</p><p>“Sorry,” she managed, ordering herself a bottle of water instead. “And Mr. Maul doesn’t mind if things get a little out of hand?”</p><p>“<em>Maul</em>,” Phasma corrected. “Never ‘mister.’ And no —” she said. “My understanding is that these revels are intended to be something of a rite of inversion for his staff; he feels it’s healthy for them to indulge their passions — to blow off steam.”</p><p>“Work hard, play hard.”</p><p>Phasma cheers’d her water bottle.</p><p>“You’ll not find him here, in any case. He never shows up to these things. Nothing to stifle the mood but the big bad watching over your shoulder.”</p><p>“His weakness isn’t in after-hours clubs.”</p><p>Phasma said archly, “No weakness at all, as far as anyone knows. He’s as steady as a rock, and as hard.”</p><p>“I heard,” Poe chimed in, stumbling into Ahsoka from the side. “That’s because he lived with and trained with Shaolin monks. I heard he has a weapons collection dating back two thousand years.”</p><p>Finn, behind him, had the decency to look concerned at his boyfriend crashing her conversation.</p><p>“Hey, Poe —“ Ahsoka made the introductions, noting the distinctive way in which Finn stiffened upon realizing who he was looking up at.</p><p>Phasma’s entire face seemed to narrow into scrutinizing disapproval. “So, <em>you’re</em> the traitor.”</p><p>“I - I - I -“ Finn started.</p><p>“<em>You</em> defected,” she continued. “You were a top seller, and you <em>abandoned your unit</em>.”</p><p>Finn held up his hands. “It wasn’t because of anything I’d heard about your team,” he said in a rush. “Marketing just seemed like a better fit —!”</p><p>They’d been removed from the bar somehow — pushed back into the crowd as others eased between them to approach the bartender. A restless unease settled on her as she turned to look over her shoulder, a strange sort of disconnect happening between her brain and her limbs, leaving her extremities tingling pleasantly as she touched the tips of her fingers together.</p><p>The lights seemed brighter too, the music more melodic. Ahsoka closed her eyes a moment, feeling the sounds and warmth and energy of the place float through her — wrapping her in a strange sense of connection to everything, all at once.</p><p>She smiled to herself, and then realized —</p><p>Sabine. The <em>baggy</em>. The <em>pills</em>. Her champagne.</p><p>“Damnit.”</p><p>“Hey —“ Poe called after her, Finn too preoccupied defending himself against Phasma’s critical onslaught to notice her easing away from the group.</p><p>Thirsty, she realized — she was desperately parched, in fact, but the bar was too packed. By some small mercy, there were a half a dozen other watering stations to be discovered, and she expected she could do so anonymously at at least half of those.</p><p>“I’ll be back,” she said, slipping away before Poe could recognize what she’d dropped by her blown pupils. Judging by the way the lights shimmered, they must have been at anime-character levels.</p><p>Ahsoka was so distracted by the need to slip away undetected, she didn’t notice the collision until it was happening:</p><p>The assault on her senses was absolute: a combination of a warm, hard chest wrapped in fabric so fine it might’ve been spun by the gods themselves, smooth against the palms of her hands as she coiled into the scent —</p><p>A smoky, warm base note, mingled with rich mahogany and spices. A drizzle of dark chocolate. Black tea and the old leather of books in a darkened library. She gasped at the contact, finding the light press of hands at her waist and elbow steadying but completely unreal —</p><p>Strength in those muscles. Hard planes. The touch impossibly gentle.</p><p>The music rose around her at near deafening levels, but the words rumbled through her with the unexpected certainty of thunder preceding a lightning strike:</p><p>“Pardon me.”</p><p>She leaned into that touch, that scent, warmth blooming low and sweet in her belly as her breath caught, wanting to rub her face into it —</p><p>But the moment came and went as the crush of people tore her away. She spun out, finding herself blinking — confused momentarily at how quickly it had happened, but Ahsoka only saw the retreating figure as the crowd devoured the lines of his shoulders, the back of his head —</p><p>And then nothing.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>The Red Room, nicknamed by Asajj for the fact that it resembled something out of <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em>, did little to dissuade people from wanting into it despite that its accents were mostly nods to a sadomasochism dungeon.</p><p>It wasn’t that there was torture equipment, per se — no rack. No sex swing. No gurney table. But the illusion cobbled leather and velvet together in a way that nodded at pain and pleasure in the subtext.</p><p>Maul liked it, but then again, he’d selected the colours for the design.</p><p>He found Asajj draped across the couch facing the door, sipping from a dainty coup glass rimmed in black sugar. Her dress puddled off her hips, her stilettos brushing the carpet idly.</p><p>The few others occupying the room took only the briefest notice of his entrance, most made hasty excuses and politely vanished before he’d even crested the threshold.</p><p>“Did I do something?” he rumbled.</p><p>Asajj unfolded her legs, and pat at the seat beside her, inviting him to join her.</p><p>“You’ve a storm cloud over your head, brother. Even at a distance, the air around crackles with inhospitable energy — with such a fearful temper, it’s no wonder that I’m the only company you can keep.”</p><p>He thought briefly of the young woman he’d nearly barrelled over in his fury, escaping the VIP after the Board had dispersed. Certain he’d excused himself, he hadn’t even properly apologized — just set her on her feet, hopefully untrodden, and beat a hasty exit to dump his frustrations on Asajj before she too could find cause to turn on him.</p><p>That he could still feel the young lady’s light touch against his chest — well, not contemplating the last time he could recall <em>that</em> particular sensation was likely safer for those around him. It did nothing to soften his foul mood that he couldn’t bloody well recall the last time someone had touched him in such an intimate manner, and the prospect left him trying to memorize the sensation as much as he sought to disperse it.</p><p>He didn’t wait for the waiter, marching up to the bar and pointing at the first bottle that looked remotely appealing.</p><p>“Oh dear,” said Asajj of his choice. “The Uigeadail? That little chat with Palpatine mustn’t have been the tete-a-tete he’d intimated if that’s what you’ve resorted to drinking.”</p><p>Maul all but snatched the glass from the bartender’s hands, slapping a tip to the bar, and ripped the seal off with his teeth.</p><p>Tossing himself next to her, he set the bottle and the glass on the low table before them, and pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes in a fierce attempt to divert the budding migraine that was sure to begin at any moment.</p><p>“My nightmares have less staying power than that man’s hold on me.”</p><p>Asajj frowned, lowering her lashes, and lifted the bottle. She spun it open, pouring him two fingers’ worth, and set it just beside.</p><p>Passing him the glass, she said, “You and I both know well that Palpatine’s concerns are with the competition and not his inner circle.”</p><p>He grunted. “I am not competition. I’m a minion.”</p><p>“A very powerful, well-connected one at that — who is undoubtedly suffering the pressure of expectation.” She sipped from her glass. “In my experience, there can only be so much satisfaction gleaned from doing what you’re told for so long.”</p><p>Glancing at her, he considered how much she knew.</p><p>She lifted a coy shoulder, offering only the most enigmatic of smiles. He sat back, considering her.</p><p>“That is perhaps a side-effect of power,” she said. “Those who crave it will only ever want more.”</p><p>“You’re partly right,” he conceded. “What you’re neglecting is the impetus.”</p><p>“Oh?”</p><p>He levelled his gaze on her. “Freedom, sister. Freedom to do as we please is a symptom I wish to be afflicted with.”</p><p>“Then it’s the disease you crave.”</p><p>He sipped his scotch, falling to brooding contemplation — thoughts swirled with every means to an end he could set his hands on. So much within reach, and yet, so distant from him.</p><p>“I wish for that sickness, yes.”</p><p>Turning back to the crowd beyond the doors, Maul exhaled a long breath, seeking the eye of the storm within him to attain some semblance of steadiness. Not calm, not unnerved, he simmered.</p><p>“Can anything be done tonight to ease your heart?” she asked.</p><p>Once more, Maul considered how much he might tell her, and decided that it was best left alone. Asajj as an ally was one thing, but while she might suspect those diverting affairs that kept him awake at night, he’d not admit them to her. Nothing to be done about it, anyway. Often the greatest weapon he might possess was patience — waiting for the opportunities to arise that he might better exploit to his ends.</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Ah.” She smiled into her glass. “I do love a challenge.”</p><p>Glancing at her, he wished for a moment he hadn’t said anything to illustrate his displeasure. Behind her eyeliner and sharply accented cheekbones, Asajj wore a look of ill-concealed triumph. Her, “I’ve had a delicious idea” look that spelled trouble.</p><p>Her gaze slid from him to the door and the party beyond. Just ahead of the Red Room, the space opened onto an atrium centered around a rather large ornamental fountain, beset with stone benches and where a number of small cocktail tables had been set up. Smaller groups mingled, milling about over the centrepieces and tea lights, laughing too loudly.</p><p>A drinks table had been set up near the fountain, serving as a makeshift bar — how many of these refreshments stands had they commissioned, exactly?A black-clad server unscrewed the top of a bottle of water, handing it to —</p><p>Maul paused, leaning forward to set his elbows on his knees, familiarity skirting over him as if touched by divine intercession. Absently, he smoothed a palm down his chest. With a frown, he caught himself, and glanced at Asajj to find her grin all-too-knowing and entirely too persuasive.</p><p>He glanced back, certain he was incorrect — surely it wasn’t the same woman he’d accosted on the first floor. But he wasn’t:</p><p>The dress was little more than a sheath encasing a figure carved to slender proportions that made the young woman’s slight stature sure, but softened as if indulgently lost to the moment and the music. Her hips swayed a little as if she’d found the urge to dance, but not the partner. </p><p>White. The dress was <em>white</em> in a sea of blacks and reds and grey.</p><p>An angel fallen amidst devils.</p><p>His hands knew her, but he did not. The shame of it burned quick and hot, and left him wondering at who she was.</p><p>“Not one of yours, I expect,” said Asajj.</p><p>He frowned, realizing he was entirely too far removed from his staff to know for certain.</p><p>“No matter,” he dismissed all notions of approaching the woman, slumping back with the bottle in hand. “Another unfortunate side-effect of my position, Asajj, is that attachments are rather prohibitive.”</p><p>She scoffed. “But indulgences are not.”</p><p>He shot her a glance and a frown. “Crass.”</p><p>“Efficient,” she corrected. “And sometimes necessary.”</p><p>She set down her drink. “Your problem, brother, is that you forbid yourself the benefits of your position. The longer you spend mired in the image you set for yourself, the more opportunities you miss.” Touching his arm, Asajj drew his attention. “And you have ample options. You only choose not to exercise them.”</p><p>Dropping his gaze to his glass, he rolled it between his fingers, the weight of solitude something not easily expressed to those who surrounded themselves with people of interest. Even brief companionship presented problems, but desire — that lingered.</p><p>“Where I have an abundance of opportunity, you mistake my reasons for not pursuing such things.”</p><p>“Shy, brother?”</p><p>Unworthy of such celestial creatures, he thought. </p><p>“I’m not well-leant to fits of passion, sister. I find them… consuming.”</p><p>She brushed her fingers along the shell of his ear, leaning in to murmur conspiratorially.</p><p>“As I’m well-aware. Aren’t you fortunate to have a friend in me; someone who only ever endeavours to take into consideration your better interests.”</p><p>He raised an eyebrow.</p><p>Her fingers, cool, settled at his wrist — staying him from taking another sip.</p><p>“My baser instincts,” he corrected.</p><p>Her smile was strychnine.</p><p>“Oh, do you have those, Maul? I wasn’t aware.”</p><p>His gaze drifted again, drawn inexorably to the woman in the white dress. Was it comfort for carrion that he should indulge so, an appreciation of her legs gliding silently over her calves, the muscles in her thighs. He lingered there, the curve of her hip and line of her waist hinting at tightness and tone. Strong arms. Skin smooth and dark in contrast to so much pale fabric. Salt locks bleached and blue in curious patterns hanging heavily over her shoulders. Devoid of ornament, save for the small jewel hanging at her forehead. Effortlessly elegant, as if she possessed a body that was accustomed to the strains of exertion and it had honed her into a graceful weapon.</p><p>“Forgive me, but in the pastiche: you might try to unwind a little. For your health.”</p><p>She tipped her glass to his.</p><p>There were several other things that he might do “for his health” but striking Palpatine down seemed an impertinence, given all of what the man had done for him. </p><p>A dead Palpatine would be one less hazard to navigate, certainly — the veiled threats notwithstanding, it did nothing for his stress to live under the constant watchful eye of someone who trusted him not at all and cared for him even less.</p><p>He didn’t linger on thoughts of his insurance measures. There were other ways. Subtler ones.</p><p>He pushed aside the desire to sink into a fit of brooding again.</p><p>Asajj watched him, besides.</p><p>Maul was but an instrument for his machinations, and what semblance of tempered, ill-begot peace he managed to wrest for himself was rarely wasted on such casual things as trysts.</p><p>Who had time for that when the blade was constantly poised to sink into one’s back?</p><p>He bared his teeth, laughing at his absent luck, and downed the rest of his glass in a swig.</p><p>Ventress only blinked.</p><p>“Well, it appears that the course of our conversation was littered with landmines.”</p><p>He snuffed a laugh.</p><p>“Regrettably, the evening hasn’t left me the will for polite discourse. Forgive me for squandering the opportunity.”</p><p>She pursed her lips. “Your soul is a tempest. I can read quite literally every miserable thought on your face.”</p><p>He gestured for a refill, and she poured him another.</p><p>“Dear,” Ventress tutted. “It <em>is</em> bad, isn’t it?”</p><p>He didn’t reply.</p><p>“How’s Paul?” she inquired.</p><p>He glanced at her, not softened, but a bit better metered. “Lovely,” he replied.</p><p>As lovely things went, with their pancake faces and strange, wheezy breathing. He’d murder anyone who so much as glanced at Paul the wrong way. He’d hunt them, and flay them.</p><p>At the bar, the woman in the white dress turned, revealing a profile with a pert nose and full lips, her gaze incandescent, and Maul tore his gaze back to his companion as if that might crush any flittering thoughts of what that mouth might feel like, slanted beneath his own, purring encouragements.</p><p>“It’s quite fine to <em>look</em>,” Asajj assured him, considering. “One might even deign to <em>talk</em>, as I hear shared conversation isn’t only a means of cultivating business deals. Some even find it pleasurable.”</p><p>Maul sank back into the couch, his skin heated with the drink, and tugged loose his tie.</p><p>“Or,” she continued, watching him. “Should all parties be consenting, I hear that on occasion, a good remedy for tension of the mind and body can sometimes be communicated without words entirely... excepting the occasional, ‘ooh’ ‘ahh’ ‘yes, daddy.’”</p><p>Sweat gathered under his collar, and uncomfortable and a little sluggish, Maul popped the button at his throat, shed his jacket and rolled his sleeves as an afterthought. He’d finished his third drink — fourth? And found himself parched, his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth.</p><p>“How does one do that?” he asked absently, not wholly considering the weight of innuendo settling behind the query.</p><p>Asajj offered him a dangerous, enigmatic smile. “Why,” she said on a breath, “by lowering one’s inhibitions, of course.”</p><p>Maul’s vision swam, his pupils widening to accept entirely too much light, leaving him disoriented and a little fuzzy at the edges. It occurred to him as the first swell of music crescendoed over the dance floor, that the sound wasn’t entirely unpleasant — in fact, the thumping bass was rather a nice accompaniment to anchor the heart.</p><p>He brushed his palms down his slacks, considering the curious way in which his skin of his palm tingled, and appreciated the accompanying feeling in his limbs.</p><p>Peering up at Ventress, lingering just out of reach, he surmised, “You spiked my drink.”</p><p>She beamed. “You can thank me later.”</p><p>Not an attempt on his life, then. Good. Though it was a reasonable, albeit disconnected thought to have given the day’s events and Palpatine crashing his soirée. Touching the skin of his forearms sent a trill of tingles to his shoulder that was not at all unpleasant.</p><p>MDMA, he surmised. Pure, uncut, pharmaceutical grade ecstasy — judging by Ventress’ cheshire grin. She only dabbled in the best, and if she intended to leave him a drooling, overly soppy mess, she’d endeavour to do so with the best she had.</p><p>As she departed, she threw over her shoulder, “Remember to drink water, dear. You’ll suffer dehydration if you don’t.”</p><p>Further to her plan, she’d called away the waiters from their section, forcing him to stagger from the Red Room to get his own blasted bottle amidst the unwashed hoard — but more pertinently, putting him in the vicinity of that luscious creature in the white dress.</p><p>Clever Ventress.</p><p>Vicious, clever viper —</p><p>Maul rose, his limbs lighter than air, and sighed at the sensation of weight sloughing from his body. He sighed, unable to help himself, the swell of being present within his own form all at once as the drug swept over him, leaving him considering a number of delicious ways that he might exercise his liberties.</p><p>Extracting himself from the red room, he tipped a shoulder against the doorframe, the world rolling around him in easy waves, and thought not of escape — only the woman in white, and what he might say to her now that the preoccupation had seized him.</p><p>Maul unfolded his glasses and set them at the lowest point on his nose, the lights too bright all of a sudden. Frowning, he searched the bar, confused by the people he found there — and the one he didn’t.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hiiiiiieeeeee. I've got Q&amp;A open on my <a href="http://octobertown.tumblr.com">Tumblr</a> if you've got burning questions about this fic, or hit me with a kudos or a comment so I know you're out there. Or like, I don't know, get on my <a href="http://www.twitter.com/octobertownie">Twitter</a> and throw me a gif or something. The more Maul, the better.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Snakeroot</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A lost pair of Jimmy Choos, a dark prince, and a bathroom stall.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Two content warnings before we start: some sweet, fairytale-flavoured fluff in here, and a little bit of blood through accidental injury. Some knight in shining armour shit too, but honestly, if I were casting Maul in <i>that</i> role, he'd totally be an Oathbreaker before a Paladin.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Unsure of how it happened, one moment, Ahsoka was at the bar, the next — she’d lost her shoes at the edge of the dance floor. Movement felt <em>delicious</em>; a fact she currently revelled in with her arms over her head, following the rhythm on the raised platform amidst a sea of Malachor Corp. employees who seemed to have misplaced their own compunctions. With the flashing lights, the constant movement, the laughter, the free-flowing drinks — it didn’t matter:</p><p>She stopped thinking about Anakin’s abrupt departure. She stopped worrying about Obi-Wan, alone at home in the rain. She forgot to panic about Monday morning and how it would change absolutely everything for her future once her title was announced.</p><p>Sweat gathered at the base of her spine, but even that felt sweet. Smiling, she closed her eyes and tipped her head back, letting the strains and sorrows melt under the driving baselines that rolled through her.</p><p>How long had it been since she’d danced? Did she even remember how?</p><p>She didn’t know. She didn’t care.</p><p>The music swelled inside her, and all Ahsoka cared about was how it felt like her toes were lifting off the ground with it, leaving her light and airy as a cloud.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>He must have looked a fool, turning in a slow circle on the spot, disoriented and disappointed. The people surrounding him appeared content, at least — a strange offset to the sinking thought that tried to squirm and get away from him.</p><p>What had that been? Hope?</p><p>Maul grimaced, morose thoughts encroaching as he found himself utterly alone in the crowd, not knowing exactly what he was searching for although the sense that he might’ve found some semblance of an answer was just out of reach, vanished along with his quarry.</p><p>His pulse matched the rhythm of the bass. He’d left his jacket, but he felt dishevelled — undone.</p><p>The music changed, and his vision muddled and body humming, he arrived at his better senses. <em>Leave</em>, the voice of his reason told him.</p><p>He rolled his head on his neck, drew in a breath against the not-unpleasant thrum of music through his body, the chatter becoming background noise, and opted for the path around the dance floor to his private elevator at the back of the building. Asajj’s attempts, though not wholly noble, were well-spotted: he needed… something.</p><p>And that absent element he couldn’t put his finger on left a wearying stain on his heart that he could not scrub at.</p><p>Lost in thought, Maul’s feet tangled, sending him at a staggering one-two step. He caught himself as quickly, turning to make the lights of the room spin, and found the offending item had wedged around the toe of his a.testoni oxford. Its pair was a few inches ahead of him where he’d kicked the high heeled shoe.</p><p>Maul bent, collected the offending article, and frowned.</p><p>Who took off their shoes at a party?</p><p>That seemed less than prudent, what with all these blundering, drunken idiots dropping all manner of sharp objects, stomping their way to and fro, nightmarish in their clumsy abandon — not to mention unsanitary.</p><p>Some movement of the cosmos drew his attention right to the dance floor — a blip in space and time that seemed to skew the universe in a direction he’d not intended, because there, at the centre of so many writhing, gyrating, flailing beings was someone utterly luminous:</p><p>The girl in the white dress, enraptured in the song, danced barefoot.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>Songs didn’t end. The DJ didn’t believe in letting the sound stop — he moved from one track to the next, the music getting louder. Someone knocked Ahsoka from the side, and she smiled at the mouthed apology, it felt for a moment as if she’d stepped out of time, and having lost her footing, found something new:</p><p>The weight of someone’s attention drew her around, confused and breathing hard, trying to find the source of it. The people dancing around her didn’t pause, and the world didn’t stop, but the sensation left her light-headed and overly warm. She searched for a moment, and turning back to orient herself, opted to take Sabine’s advice —</p><p>Water.</p><p>She drifted in the general direction from whence she’d came — she thought — mopping at the back of her neck and grinning to herself, and discovered she’d left her shoes behind.</p><p>That was dumb, she thought, but it didn’t bother her at that particular moment — a symptom of whatever Sabine had slipped her, no doubt.</p><p>She was still smiling when she arrived at the spot near the edge of the dance floor where she thought she’d left them, but confused, discovered they’d gone.</p><p>While it occurred to her that there wasn’t magic enough in the world to make a pair of heels walk away on their own, she felt the brief, irrational relief that she wouldn’t need to put them back on her feet —</p><p>But then, there they were, held by the heels and presented on the palm of someone whose forearms were covered in thick, dark tattoos. The glint of his watch caught the light, exposed by his rolled sleeves, a crisp shirt and waistcoat, tailored slacks and polished shoes. Fancy wrappings. Red tie loosened from its knot at his throat. The body beneath was as cut and elegant as a diamond, nothing rough about the lines of muscle and sinew taut beneath his clothing.</p><p>The man’s mouth curved upward, but she stalled there:</p><p>She found her own face reflected back at her in his mirrored aviators, but that wasn’t the thing that set her heart hammering:</p><p>Not that his neck and face bore similar markings to his arms. Not his hair, so perfectly styled into irreverent spikes that rose like horns from his head. With all the polished fineries of someone who’d clearly honed an image intended to evoke fear and respect, it was jarring how out of place he seemed amidst the sales execs and product designers and tech nerds who packed the place.</p><p>But his <em>scent</em> —</p><p>“Oh,” she managed, but the sound choked off before she could say anything further.</p><p>He didn’t touch her but to take her hand, placing the offending articles in her care once more, and though his fingers were featherlight and cool compared to her heated skin, she thought at once that it was the sort of gesture that might complicate the rest of her evening’s plan to get utterly destroyed at the bar.</p><p>He leaned in, his breath a tickle against her cheek, and said in a tone intended just for her, but losing some of its subtlety because he needed to shout:</p><p>“There are worse introductions to fairy tales than this.”</p><p>And then he pulled down his glasses. Surprise registered at the colour she found concealed there, but that wasn’t where his charms ended, because within a moment she’d stepped back, only to be trod on at the heel by someone blundering past.</p><p>The pain was clarifying, for a moment, and then it was not.</p><p>Then it was just —</p><p>— A lot of blood.</p><p>That tattooed face twisted in confusion, turning irritated, and then concerned — but Ahsoka only processed the feeling of becoming airborne as her feet left the ground, swept from under her, strong arms behind her knees and shoulders, lifting her into an unhurried stride though the crowd.</p><p>“I apologize,” he said, jaw tense. “I’m perhaps not the white knight that so many wish for, but in the very least I might be able to spare your feet from further injury. Though I doubt I can do much for your dress.”</p><p>Ahsoka winced, trying to get a better look at the damage, but only successfully managed to get an arm around his shoulders.</p><p>She rather thought for a moment in dumbfounded surprise at how quickly the gathering parted to let them through, that she much preferred the devil in disguise to a white knight anyway.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>She hadn’t run screaming, but she likewise had not stopped herself from staring at his face.</p><p>Vibrant, wide blue eyes framed by pretty, dark lashes warmed him. A small, inquisitive smile turned her lips up at the corners.</p><p>He felt the lightest press of her fingers at his cheek, and nearly dropping her at the contact, he caught himself before he could stumble.</p><p>“They’re real,” she breathed, her thumb tracing the inked line that ran from his jaw to his cheek.</p><p>He’d have stared right back were it not for the fact that he was cutting a path to the bathrooms at the rear of the level, intent on finding an attendant and some bandages. Perhaps a pair of slippers to prevent her from having to don her heels once more.</p><p>“Do you regularly sweep distressed women off their feet?”</p><p>Maul opened his mouth to say that, in fact, no — he wasn’t in the habit, but a blue-headed boy who couldn’t have been more than nineteen began shouting, “Ashla! Wait! <em>Ashla!</em>”</p><p>He’d reacted without thinking — and while the thought to set her down hadn’t occurred to him until that moment, Maul couldn’t say what affected him more: her touch or her absent protests at being bridal carried through his club.</p><p>“I didn’t realize how strong that stuff was — Ashla!” The boy cut them off, “What are you — oh <em>shit</em> that’s a lot of blood. Okay. Oh-<em>kay</em>, I think I’m gonna need to sit down.”</p><p>“Ezra —!” another person shouted after the boy.</p><p>“It appears your friend misplaced her footwear,” Maul informed him. “She was caught by the edge of a stray wingtip, I believe. There’s a lavatory at the back.”</p><p>“Oh,” she hummed. “Is that where we’re going?”</p><p>He blinked, distracted again by the easy way she seemed to sink into his chest.</p><p>“I thought you might want the first aid kit.”</p><p>“I think<em> I</em> might need a first aid kit, in a second,” said Ezra, too pale. He put his hands on his knees, doubling over. “I’m gonna pass out.”</p><p>Another girl appeared at his side, gripping him by the shoulders. “I don’t think he can carry two of you, buddy — come on,” she said. Flashing a sheepish smile, the girl said through her teeth, “‘Soka — you okay?”</p><p>The girl in his arms waved lazily, and rested her head in the crook of his neck.</p><p>He thought he felt her ribs expand with a contented sigh.</p><p>“I’m dripping,” she purred.</p><p>He stiffened at that, but then Maul realized that she meant her foot. Her <em>injured</em> foot. Her injured foot that he was going to tend to momentarily, because that’s where he was going —</p><p>Right. <em>Focus</em>.</p><p>“I assure you, nothing untoward will happen to your friend, Miss —?”</p><p>“Wren,” she managed, flashing a quick smile, her gaze darting to her friend. “I’ll just take care of Ezra — get him some orange juice, or —” She shook herself, flashing teeth in a nervous grin. “No problem. We’ve got this. Sir. I mean —”</p><p>“I’ll have someone check in with you later, regarding the state of your friend’s foot.”</p><p>“Oh — oh that’s nice, thanks —“ she babbled, hoisting Ezra up before he could swoon. “If you’ll pardon me.”</p><p>He gave her a nod, and turning, he pretended not to hear the, “Oh <em>shit</em>, do you know who that was?” that followed.</p><p>“You smell good,” Ahs — Ashla? — said into his throat. A protective, predatory urge swelled in him at that. Rubbing her fingers against his silk tie, he took a steadying breath, refocused his line of sight at his end destination — so close now — and murmured into her hair, “Almost there.”</p><p>Shouldering through the bathroom door, he nodded at the attendant, who mercifully recognized him and the situation, and said nothing as he retrieved the first aid kid. He set it on the countertop.</p><p>Maul offered a nod as thanks.</p><p>“Is there anything I can do, sir?” he asked.</p><p>Maul barely glanced at the young man, his attention consumed by settling the young lady beside the box, leaving her legs to dangle. “Privacy, please.”</p><p>She hmmed, her eyes shutting a little. “Is it crazy that cold marble feels really good right now?” She smoothed her hands over the surface, trailing to her thighs. “So nice and cool.” She sighed deeply, and Maul paused — considering.</p><p>“Can you sit upright? It appears that buffoon took off a layer a skin, but I’d like to disinfect the cut before bandaging it.”</p><p>Those perfect blue eyes fluttered open, and finding a measure of wonder and kindness there, it occurred to him that she wasn’t as young as he’d thought initially — late twenties, perhaps. And high as a bloody kite.</p><p>“Oh, you’ve done so much already —“ she started.</p><p>“My dear —” he began. “Ashla, is it?”</p><p>She rolled her head to the side, taking his measure through half-lidded eyes with a small, curious smile that give his heart a little stutter. Something stirred there — an idea rolling around that left his pulse thrumming.</p><p>“Your injury is superficial,” he managed, untangling his tongue. “But —“</p><p>“Are you a doctor?”</p><p>Maul paused, chuckled, and pushed the attendant’s stool to a spot before her. Lowering himself, he was damned if he didn’t smirk up at her when he touched her heel, setting her foot on a towel he’d draped over his knee and she sucked in a little breath.</p><p>“No,” he said, careful to maneuver her, fingers finding the supple skin of her calf as he held her ankle. “But I’ve some experience with mending minor injuries, and an interest in medicine, you might say.”</p><p>She didn’t know who he was, he realized — a startling thought, as it seemed his reputation had a tendency to precede him. Maul raised his eyebrows to himself, some back part of his brain negotiating the knowledge that she scrunched her toes into his thigh, goosebumps rippling as he slid a thumb up the inside of her calf to better position her leg.</p><p>If his hand lingered, it was only apparent by the way she held her breath.</p><p>“Sorry —“ she gasped, laughing. “That, um — your hands are really —” She paused, drew a breath. “I swear I’m not that far gone,” she laughed.</p><p>He flipped the catch on the first aid box, turning his eyes up to her, and blindly extracting the gauze, the tape, and a bandage to cover it all.</p><p>“If you appreciate my touch for the moment, I’d suggest you keep that kinda sentiment in mind. I’m going to have to disinfect it.”</p><p>He did <em>not</em> look at her thighs. His gaze did <em>not</em> drop to her waist, not the knees settled an inch apart before him, squeezing together involuntarily.</p><p><em>Shit</em>.</p><p>His pulse went thready, and Maul thought to himself, he was actually going to kill Ventress. Literally.</p><p>Substances compromised his control, and compromised control resulted in reduced inhibitions, distracted focus, blunted edges, soft skin, calf muscles, supple curves —</p><p><em>Shit shit shit</em>.</p><p>Her other foot scooted to his pantleg, brushing the fabric, fidgeting.</p><p>“Here,” he said, settling it on his knee so she’d stop distracting him —</p><p>But honestly, in a situation where Maul found himself at the feet of a beautiful woman, his face so bloody close to her thighs, his heartbeat jackhammering to the rhythm on the dance floor, and whatever godforsaken drugs in his system making him think about peeling back the fabric of her pencil skirt and licking the inside of her knee to see what sound she might make if he did — he was only a hop, skip, and jump to being utterly fucked.</p><p>Not in the literal sense, but —</p><p>Whatever.</p><p>Alcohol swab?</p><p>Ashla sucked in a breath. “Ahsoka,” she said.</p><p>“Bless you?”</p><p>She laughed — a deep, throaty sound that was so sudden and unexpected in the cavernous lavatory that Maul found himself grinning.</p><p>“My name,” she said, covering her mouth to hide the traces of her smile. “I’m Ahsoka. Ashla’s just a nickname.”</p><p>“And I’m charmed,” he said.</p><p>“You’re sweet, is what,” she said, her gaze falling to the alcohol pad and the stains down her leg. She exhaled. “Okay, so this is going to suck.”</p><p>He raised an eyebrow. “Put your hand on my shoulder,” he said. “Squeeze if I hurt you.”</p><p>“Uh —”</p><p>She hesitated.</p><p>“My lady, please. The sooner this is done, the sooner I might offer you a glass of something stiff to wash away the unpleasantness.”</p><p>“That’s smooth,” she said, her fingers settling at his shoulder. “But I’m stronger than you think.” She gave him a squeeze, and Maul’s gaze definitely did <em>not</em> trail up her arm in appreciation.</p><p>“Yoga? Barre?”</p><p>It was her turn to smirk at him as he readied the remedy.</p><p>“Six years of <em>silat.” </em>She shrugged. <em>“</em>Three<em> aikido. </em>Some<em> wushu.”</em></p><p>“How much?” he asked, swabbing at the blood.</p><p>Ahsoka bared her teeth, her grip turning venomous. He almost groaned in pleasure.</p><p>“Twelve years,” she hissed.</p><p>Maul let out a breath, finishing rapidly before it could begin bleeding anew, or worse, before he’d do something he’d later regret like burying his face between her legs.</p><p>“Shallow,” he said tightly. “Shouldn’t scar.”</p><p>The bandaging was quicker, and running his fingers over his handiwork, it took the belated realization to find her watching him.</p><p>Something shifted between them, and doubtless, had he possessed the clarity of his regular faculties, he might’ve understood that the look she gave him was one of appreciation bordering on hunger. Absent all regrets, he found his hands slipping around the soft skin near her ankle, fingertips grazing the lines of tendon he found there, thumbs running circles. She shivered, and he tore his hand away, rising so swiftly he all but kicked the stool to the stalls across the room.</p><p>Maul cleared his throat, offering her a hand down. To his credit, he managed to <em>not</em> choke out a, “Madam,” after settling her on her feet.</p><p>She did not let go of his hand.</p><p>She licked her lower lip into her mouth, some mischief sparkling in the depths as she chewed on the soft pillow of flesh.</p><p>“So —“</p><p>He tracked her, his nerve endings firing where she touched him, sending tremors up his arm. Was she breathing heavier as she hazarded a step closer? Too transfixed on her mouth, he didn’t pull away, and he didn’t stop her as her proximity spilled over his senses, wrapping him in the lightest cloud of cardamom and vanilla.</p><p>Ahsoka tipped her head and the movement allowed for a twist of blue hair to fall free. Unthinking, he reached for it, running his finger down the strand. Such a brilliant colour. Fascinating that someone so composed took the alternative route when it came to her personal style —</p><p>Maul caught himself, stepping back.</p><p>About to apologize, she stopped him with a tug to his fingers.</p><p>“I’ll tell you about my colour selection if you tell me about your tattoos,” she offered, lifting a shoulder. “Over that drink?”</p><p>Her eyes darkened, and leaning forward, Maul found his hands — damn them — acting of their own sordid volition, slipping from her shoulder-blade to her waist — How had that happened? The pull between them became magnetic, and he, dipping down to taste her parted lips as her eyelids fluttered closed in anticipation, stopped short at the sound of the bathroom door crashing into the wall.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>For the second time that night, Ahsoka found herself swept from her feet.</p><p>The disorientation was temporary, and while her reflexes failed her, her companion’s did not —</p><p>Like waltz, he spun her into him, sweeping backward in two swift strides, her toes barely grazing the floor. As they turned, his shoulders struck the first bathroom stall door available, sinking the pair of them into a surprisingly opulent space ornamented in dark wood with brass fixtures.</p><p>The sounds of the party stumbled into the bathroom, laughter too loud in the echoing space.</p><p>The door shut with a click, and Ahsoka turned her face up to find her would-be saviour breathing hard.</p><p>Pressed to his chest, she could feel every curve, ripple, and tendon as he held her to him — hard as marble and fiery to the touch, Ahsoka withdrew her hand from his collarbone, and slid the lock into place on the door.</p><p>Gold eyes watched the movement with interest, and turning back to her, he appeared to consider her a moment, his gaze darkening.</p><p>It occurred to her that she didn’t get his name, but the way he took a step to press her back into the wall, her breathing turning shallow at the press of his hips into hers, she didn’t damn well care.</p><p>They hovered on the edge a moment longer, when a voice beyond the door cackled, “Someone forget their Jimmy Choos.”</p><p>She closed her eyes for a bit longer than a standard blink, and opened them again to find her companion shaking silently.</p><p>He released her, stepping back to slump against the wall opposite, the moment ruined by the drunken cackling echoing around the lavatory and the certainty that she’d absolutely lost her shoes for the evening. </p><p>Her companion smothered his laughter with a fist, and grinning, Ahsoka slumped back, smiling at his mirth — taking in the way his shirt pulled across his shoulders, the strain of fabric at his forearms where the sleeves were rolled — and thought to herself that Rose had been wrong about the bathrooms being a decent place to hookup.</p><p>The thought that chased it kept her legs folded together at the ankles:</p><p>In a breath he might’ve kissed her. In two, she might’ve peeled her dress off for this man that she didn’t know, and had him right there against the wall of a bathroom stall.</p><p>The crowd dispersed, the blare of techno snuffing with the door, and bathed in silence, he regarded her with something that might’ve resembled sadness.</p><p>She felt it too: a moment stolen, slipped through their fingers.</p><p>“My lady, Ahsoka,” he said, resigned, offering her his hand to pull her off the wall. “It appears that fortune is not my fellow this evening.”</p><p>Nor hers.</p><p>He glanced about them. “And this —“ He pulled a face, unlatching the door. “Forgive me.” He guided her out. “It was not my intention to --“ He stopped and took a breath, embarrassed. “A lavatory is perhaps the least intimate, most debauched — Please do not misunderstand me, this is — I don’t make this a habit —”</p><p>She touched his arm.</p><p>“Forgive me,” he said again, and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.</p><p>She gave him a small smile, unable to stop herself from feeling bereft his touch.</p><p>“I’m feeling a little tired, honestly.”</p><p>Honestly, she was a little tired, still sort of fluffy from whatever Sabine had slipped her, and it was just her luck that the guy she wanted to wrap her legs around had to be a gentleman. Considerate, well-dressed, kind, but <em>kriff</em> — she couldn’t remember the last time someone had ruined her panties without so much as kissing her.</p><p>If she spent much longer thinking about what those fingers could do to her as they trailed to her waist, he’d have to carry her again because her knees wouldn’t hold her up.</p><p>Resigned, he nodded. “I’ll call you a car.”</p><p>Was that a look of disappointment? She wasn’t sure.</p><p>“There’s a private lift to the back of the building —” he was saying. “Perhaps less a hazard than trying to negotiate the dance floor without proper footwear.”</p><p>She searched his face, the sounds of the party dimmed to background noise, fuzzed out under the feeling of his palm pressing into her back.</p><p>The noise cut off with a hush, and Ahsoka found herself at his side in the elevator, buttons punched.</p><p>He extracted a phone from a pocket, texting someone, and shoving it away with a strained look. He didn’t glance at her, but shoved his hands in his pockets, his gaze fixed on the floor numbers as they descended.</p><p>“Honestly,” he said more to himself than to her, pulling at his collar. “Asajj sometimes has the best intentions but the worst mechanisms for execution. If I could dispatch her for this, I surely —“</p><p>“Who’s Asajj?”</p><p>He blinked, eyebrows raised. “Colleague,” he grunted with a huff. “Ex-friend. Soon to be slaughtered.” Rolling his eyes to hers, Ahsoka thought she saw his cheeks pink with blush. “I suspect she spiked my drink this evening, doubtless she concluded that a chemical impetus was what was required for me to ‘unwind’. If anything, all this has demonstrated is that a little Molly leaves me altogether too aware of my own decorum.”</p><p>The elevator doors opened, revealing a silent hallway covered in a plush carpet. It ended at a set of double doors, manned by a single security guard. The hall was empty: a private entry and exit.</p><p>“Are you —” She stopped herself, and he a few feet before her. Ahsoka tipped her head, taking him in. The lights hurt her eyes, but she approached him. With a glance at the bouncer, she whispered, “Are you <em>rolling</em> right now?”</p><p>He sank his teeth into his lower lip, pulling a face. “Is it that obvious?”</p><p>It wasn’t.</p><p>She raised her eyebrows. “You have remarkable self-control.”</p><p>The silence thickened, the words out of her mouth before she could stop herself — the suggestion laying heavy between them. If there was an uptick in her pulse, Ahsoka might’ve sworn he noticed it.</p><p>Interest deepened his expression, a slow curve of his mouth turning dangerous. “Oh?”</p><p>The feeling of his gaze trailing her, smoothing down her backside as she about-faced and headed for the doors left her body seared by his attention.</p><p>Not over, she thought —</p><p>Not over yet.</p><p>He arrived at the door before her, the sudden proximity leaving her buzzing as he pushed it open, standing to the side so that she could pass.</p><p>True to his word, a car was waiting — windshield wipers swishing — the door held open by the driver, whose presence Ahsoka barely registered.</p><p>Barefoot in the street, rain pattering her shoulders, her stomach wound through with unspent tension, Ahsoka turned to take in his appearance one last time. He appeared a drowning man, resigned to his fate — his fearsome countenance at odds with how he’d cared for her in the short time they’d been in each other’s company.</p><p>Sabine had said that she wanted to help her put aside her conscience for a second — to turn off the little voice that would prevent her from really enjoying herself for a time; to let it all go so she could have one last hurrah before everything changed.</p><p>What was she doing?</p><p>She never did this sort of thing.</p><p>That didn’t mean she didn’t <em>want</em> to.</p><p>A beat, those gold eyes lit with interest, he murmured her name and it was all she could do to keep from crushing him to her —</p><p>“Ahsoka, you’re getting wet.”</p><p>Her heart hammered her ribs, and she said, low enough for him to hear, “I’m already wet.”</p><p>Taking his hand, she drew him after her, easing back into the darkened leather interior of the towncar. He followed, folding against her in the backseat where she drew his mouth to hers, fingers finding his tie with a sigh to guide him closer, and crushed his mouth to hers with a desperation that continued its driving beat as they fell together into the dark, entwined.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I wanted to get to this point in the story (the end of Act I) before switching over to weekly releases, which means the next you'll hear from me is next Friday or Saturday. </p><p>Thanks for reading, BIG thank you for those who've left comments or kudos (you're especially awesome for doing so!), and hello to new friends on Tumblr. :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Henbane</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>In which things go a little pear-shaped.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>*cackle*</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A grey day, no sunlight. He struck at the air, his movements tight — one two against an imaginary foe: to the neck, to the ribs. He hit the mat and rolled with the impact, his bo slivering the silence of his dojo.</p><p>Driven by those things he could readily identify: anger, loathing, and one he could not —</p><p>The hunger he felt left his movements stilted, the forms he was so accustomed to clipped and jagged. It was nothing that could be sated with nourishment.</p><p>Maul spun the staff over his knuckles, his chest heaving from exertion in the pre-dawn, and rolled his head back on his neck, trying to rid himself of distraction.</p><p>How could he when every shift of his body was beset with phantom sensations he couldn’t exorcise.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Soft, at first, she pulls him against her, fingers at his throat, loosening his tie, restricted by the way her dress hugs her. Ahsoka makes a noise against his mouth in frustration, and half-lost already, he catches her at the waist, falling after her onto the backseat on the towncar, unable to shelter her from his weight. When she moans, it’s his mouth that swallows the sound — seeking her tongue and finding she tastes of vanilla and smoke, and all he wants to do is tear the blasted fabric from her legs so he can press his thigh between hers to coax her into making that whimper-sweet mewl again that seems so much like a plea.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He growls, and her grip becomes as demanding as her kiss.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It occurs to him that he wants to hear her beg —</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Beset by images of her lithe body beneath his, he stopped trying to punish himself — halting at the window, but wishing for quietude. He’d tried meditating through most of Sunday, bereft his senses and trying to better piece together the events between waking alone on Saturday morning, absent any form of contact for the woman who’d besieged his waking thoughts <em>and</em> his dreams.</p><p>No note.</p><p>No number.</p><p>An empty bed beside him.</p><p>Monday would dawn bright and cold, and Maul resolved himself to put it out of his mind: a feat that was proving itself easier said than done, given the feel of her clinging to his palms, the taste of her skin on his mouth. Every time he shut his eyes, the assault on his senses renewed itself in fragments: an incomplete picture that only offered glimpses of their nocturne spent together.</p><p>Maul had many nice things, many of which he didn’t deserve, many of which he’d wrested from the world with vigour and violence — but breathing hard as he was, fostering his anger to better focus himself to the task of running his business, he’d have traded his better senses for another night alone and in his full faculties with her.</p><p>He abandoned his forms, set his staff down on the rack of perfectly sharpened, perfectly crafted instruments, and watched a drop of his sweat splatter against the mat at his feet.</p><p>“Fuck,” he muttered, discovering his cock eager to betray all that self-control and discipline he’d mastered over the years.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Negotiated into his lap, he gives in to the need to smooth his hands over her hips, her ribs, her thighs. The dress is maddening — he can neither slip beneath it to touch the smooth expanse of her thighs, nor can he release her from it. In desperation, he cups her shoulder blades, pressing his face into the crescent of skin over her breasts, devouring, licking trails, wanting more. She grinds into his lap, and he has to hold her in place so that he doesn’t give in and tear the sheath of fabric off of her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Between him and the zipper, he thinks he stands a better chance.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ahsoka sighs, her hands bracketing her in place agains the town car’s ceiling, her knees squeezed together tightly, rubbing as if to give her a little more friction.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I need you to touch me,” she whimpers.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And he needs to make her stop talking — to stop saying these things, else he’ll have her right there in the back of his sedan.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He slams a fist into the intercom, directing the driver to “The brownstone,” and shuts the privacy barrier not quickly enough.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Sliding her lower into his lap, he drapes her over his chest, running strong fingers up her stomach and over her breasts. Into his ear, she moans, her head tipped back to his shoulder and her hips finding the right rhythm to make him come right there in his pants, but he tries to release her from the trappings of the garment, anyway:</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Tugging the fabric at her knees, whispering promises if she’ll only let the wolf in the door.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“My Lady, please —“</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And he rubs her thighs, causing her to strain into his hand as he smooths across her core, wanting to offer her any pressure at all where she needs it but not getting enough.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cupping her hand over his, she bares down with a low moan, and unable to help himself, he opens his mouth to her neck, sinking in his teeth in slow warning.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ahsoka whimpers, but she stills, goosebumps erupting over her arms. He smoothes them out, fingertips soothing, slowing her movements.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I want you to be a good girl,” he breathes into her ear.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Those gorgeous, blue eyes open to his — darkened by lust, a storm brewing there. Tempestuous.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She breathes, “But what if I’m not?” and slides her hand between them, cupping him through his slacks.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>A glance at his calendar determined he had three meetings that morning, one of which was an introduction of sorts with the heads of staff from his new acquisition and the plans for them, now that they were under his wing.</p><p>Kenobi would be present, and whoever else the man saw fit for him to meet from amongst his meagre pool of executive talent. Some would not endure the transition. In the least, the Skywalker’s protege would be in attendance, and given that the girl was allegedly the next best thing to Skywalker himself, that would prove interesting.</p><p>He knew little about her save for the fact that Kenobi had promoted her to the role of Chief Technology Officer, a title that meant little until her mettle could be tested, as far as Maul was concerned. He’d needed Skywalker’s aptitude for applications architecture, which was why, precisely, Sidious had seen fit to remove him from the deal: a strategic decision to cut Maul off at the knee, he thought with no loss of irony.</p><p>And Skywalker’s protege was… “Tano” something.</p><p>He’d fashion his little acquisition into what he needed it to be, one way or another. The pieces were in place, already, he only needed the proper direction to see his pet project come to its legs:</p><p>From a crawl to a lurch to a run.</p><p>Maul scrolled on.</p><p>He’d have a light lunch, perhaps in the company of Asajj, who would doubtless <em>love</em> to hear of his weekend exploits following the party. He endeavoured to use his time productively, letting her know exactly the depths of his displeasure at her trickery, and all the good it bloody did for him — the consequences of which would be delivered swiftly and with a singular warning.</p><p>Stripping as he stalked to the lavatory adjoining his dojo, shedding clothes as if he could shed the feel of Ahsoka’s body writhing atop his, Maul’s mood did not improve, knowing what awaited him.</p><p>He turned the taps on with a gesture, the correct temperature for his comfort (scalding), and with a grimace, adjusted them to turn frigid. The steam dissipated, forbidding slivers of ice water striking his toes.</p><p>He thought of Ahsoka’s mouth — just a flash of her lips parting, her tongue darting out to taste, her wry smile — and with a grimace, fisted his cock and gave it a stiff, punishing pump. He gripped the wall, snarling at the cold, and stepped beneath the spray.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>—</em>
</p><p> </p><p>No sane person started their days at 5:30 a.m. with a five mile run through Brooklyn. Sane people slapped their alarm a couple of times and tried to sleep in, but Ahsoka, not sane, had spent the past two days trying to wrest back control over her body and brain.</p><p>Those parts of her, apparently out of her control, had other ideas that bordered on treachery.</p><p>She slowed to a halt, catching her ankle to stretch out a ham, holding herself up against a potted tree for support. Barely breathing hard, she switched legs, staring dead ahead without really grounding herself in her surroundings.</p><p>Her circuit was automatic. Her body went where it needed to.</p><p>That’s because she trusted her body <em>not</em> to betray her, she thought.</p><p>She frowned at nothing, contemplating if it was okay to stop, and almost immediately decided, “Nope,” before her brain saw fit to send her another punishing array of visuals from Friday night.</p><p>She shivered, her limbs lit, sweat mixing with arousal. Fuck, her nipples might still be swollen.</p><p>She laughed, but it might’ve been a sob of frustration. Taking off again at a sprint, she wondering if she might take another ten miles to get away from the snippets of sensation that clung to her.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>For the second time that evening, she finds herself carried — swept from her feet as they exit the car. He deposits her at the top of a set of steps, her shoulders tacked to a door as her companion punches in a code to admit them to —</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Oh,” she sighs, her feet chilled by the checkerboard tiles but briefly. She glimpses wood and leather, dark marble, a painted ceiling. Bits and pieces that lend to a classical architectural style, so disparate to the man’s appearance.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Forgive me, my dear. The floors take a moment to adjust temperature.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She doesn’t quite process the statement as the door shuts after her, and he — what was his name, again?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He’s kissing her, his hands finding the catch beneath her hair, the zipper of her dress easing open beneath the trail of his fingertips. The fabric slips from her shoulders right there in the hallway, puddling on those polished floors, and with a growl, she finds herself with her legs wrapped around his waist, his tongue devouring, a hand beneath her ass as he strides with her to the kitchen island and eases her onto the granite surface with her legs pressed apart.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>So eager.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You’re strong,” she breathes, but his mouth crashes into hers — tongues and teeth warring with each other, and drawing her lower lip into his mouth, he loosens his tie.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She goes for his belt, his waistcoat — the buttons of his shirt ping to the countertop.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jerking her forward, his fingers slip into her hair to better control the kiss; to stay her hands.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ahsoka whimpers, hands unable to grasp more than muscle but catching on his belt.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He withdraws, his thumb tracing her jaw, plucking at her lower lip.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“No,” he says. “Not yet.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>His other hand trails lightly up her thigh, leaving her shivering. Taking her in, a small smile plays about his mouth as he drags his fingers to the little bow at the front of her panties.</em>
</p><p><em>They’re simple. Cute even. Not the sort of thing she’d expected to be seen in, because she hadn’t </em>planned<em> on ending her evening quite like this.</em></p><p>
  <em>Turning those curious eyes up to hers, his gaze turns predatory.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Cotton,” he breathes, turning his hand palm up so that his knuckle presses a little more firmly against her sex, nudging against the moisture pooling between her body and the fabric.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ahsoka sucks in a breath, chewing her lip into her mouth, wrestling with the urge to climb him —</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“May I touch you here?” he asks.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She nods, her voice caught, but as he leans in to breathe into her ear, the last of her resolve strains and crumples:</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I would very much like to pull your panties to the side, Ahsoka.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He licks his lips, placing a chaste kiss beneath her ear, making her shiver.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I would like, then, if you’d permit me, to wet my fingers with your arousal, and I would like to slip them inside you slowly and with the sort of leisurely interest that assures you that, yes, my dear — I am going to fuck you into this countertop. Into the floor. Against that wall over there.” He nods, and her gaze follows to the particular place indicated. “And then I will carry you upstairs to my bed, and you will beg me to take you again. And again.” He kisses her neck. “And again.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Swallowing a whimper, she leans into his touch, her hands finding his neck — his shoulders. Into the shell of his ear, she manages around her heart in her throat, “I think you should tear them off.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He grins, his eyes lidded — a feral, knowing smile —</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Say please.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>In another life, another time, she imagined she didn’t contemplate the things she’d done in the span of forty-eight hours. She didn’t touch substances — except for that one time with Ezra’s gravity bong experiment. She rarely drank. She definitely did <em>not</em> sleep with strange men she’d only just met —</p><p>If Ahsoka could demarcate who she was before, and who she was in the aftermath of these choices, she’d be lying to herself if she said she wasn’t changed. She just wasn’t certain that it was in any good way.</p><p>Having not often experienced regret, it roiled around in her gut at the thought that she’d snuck out for her first true walk of shame without even having left a number. It occurred to her too far after the fact that he was likely one of <em>theirs</em> — a Malachor Corp. employee — and that she’d probably run into him at the office eventually. She’d explain the situation, she decided, but unsure of what she was supposed to say about a too-intimate hookup intended as a one-night-only affair, she wasn’t sure what to do.</p><p>It was on her. Bottom line.</p><p>With any luck, in a company of thousands, they’d never cross paths, and never crossing paths meant sparing herself having to confront what she was left contemplating in the aftermath:</p><p>She’d have done it all over again in a heartbeat.</p><p>Dawn peeked over the rooftops, and with burning limbs and searing lungs, trying to purge herself of the aberration — this insane blip in her ordinary — she walked it off. Or tried to. Tried to find the path back to the rigours of her day to day.</p><p>Brand new day and all that.</p><p>Other choices to be made, and other responsibilities to shoulder now that the announcement of her promotion was on the horizon, and there was a whole other subway route she needed to take to get her to the new office.</p><p>Stars, her focus was totally shot.</p><p>“Game face on,” she said to herself, her legs protesting at the four flights of stairs between her and her walkup apartment. It burned, but that kind of punishment she welcomed.</p><p>The other kind — the things she’d asked him to do — <em>that</em> made her face red.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>“Give yourself to me,” he purrs, one hand splayed over her chest, fingers lightly touching her throat in a gesture that suggests he could maneuver her if he needs to. Gentle. Everything about how he’d positioned her, leaving her exposed to his ministrations, is gentle. But to deny that there’s an undercurrent of demand behind it would be foolish.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She wants to give in to it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She wants to be swept away in the sensation.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ahsoka is not used to yielding, but some part of her wants to hear him say —</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She stops herself before she can finish the thought.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>His arm held her chest, his other hand tracing the curve of her buttocks to the tops of her thighs.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He’s placed her palms against the wall, and trembling, naked before him, she tips her ass up and spreads her legs enough for him to see how wet she is.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Surrender, my Lady, and I will give you —” His palm slips down her front, his other hand at her shoulder blades, easing her forward so that she can feel the brush of his trousers against the backs of her legs. “— Everything.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She can feel the hard line of his arousal through the wool, resting firm and hot against her backside.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He kneels, and the press of his kiss to the cleft where her leg meets her ass almost makes her knees buckle.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He holds her up, spreading her before him as if to feast on her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Tell me,” he purrs, his tongue darting — warm and wet against her clit and drawing across her folds. A tease. She gasps. “Tell me and I will honour every desire.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ahsoka squeezes her eyes shut, her legs trembling. She wants things that she shouldn’t want. Craves them.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She steals a breath, finding him standing at her back, waiting for her command — however she needs to be worshipped, he’ll give it to her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>His hands find her wrists, pinning them above her head. “Like this?” he prompts.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He moves, wrapping fingers at her throat, grinding against her backside. “Or this?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Her eyes flutter shut, as he finds her breasts, giving her left nipple a firm pinch between his thumb and forefinger. The other travels lower, slipping between her legs and grazing her clit, gathering wetness before easing inside of her — two at a time.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Tell me,” he says into her ear. “And I will give you all that you need.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Yes,” she hears herself say. “All of it. Yes.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And he murmurs, finally, “Good girl.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Three hours later, Obi-Wan rocked back on his heels before the elevator, admiring the glass lift and the elevators shuttling up and down overhead.</p><p>“It’s quite impressive, don’t you think?” he asked.</p><p>The new office was a marvel of technology, and massive. More like a hotel than a multi-floor skyscraper, all under the command of one man — one man who she’d be meeting in a matter of moments. It warranted a descriptor a little more grandiose than ‘impressive’. It was downright terrifying. You could see the parts of the machine at full operation; entire floors dedicated to various branches of staff — and Rebel Inc. was already neatly nestled into onto the 42<sup>nd</sup>.</p><p>An unusual decision, but allegedly the board wanted all of their assets under one roof to better integrate them.</p><p>Obi-Wan glanced at her, taking a quick survey of her immaculate makeup and perfect presentation. She’d dressed to conquer things — a combination of black heels, a grey pencil skirt, and black blouse. Black stockings. She’d even put on her big-girl panties to make herself feel better about her poor choices in life: they were a violent shade of red, and lace, and the matching bra and garter made her feel like a fucking queen, ready to grind insurgents under her heel.</p><p>Ahsoka didn’t answer, her stomach flip-flopping, but she gave him a quick, sharp smile without teeth.</p><p>“Much more space,” he continued. “Than the loft, I mean.”</p><p>Side-eyeing him, she folded her arms across her chest.</p><p>He squinted. “You’re nervous. I’m sorry.”</p><p>“I’m not.”</p><p>“You’re doing that thing,” he gestured. “No matter. I apologize for the late invitation. I thought we might dispatch the run-around if we presented you in your new position early. Get you familiarized with the executive staff. Let <em>them</em> get to know <em>you</em>.”</p><p>It all made sense, of course. The official announcement would be released around noon, but being nine a.m. and barely caffeinated enough to endure a meeting with Malachor Corp.’s CEO first thing had her firing on all anxious cylinders.</p><p>The elevator dinged, and Obi-Wan ushered her forward.</p><p>“I’m sure they have questions,” she said at length. “About the engine.”</p><p>He clapped her on the shoulder with a smile. Ahsoka pretended not to see the strain around his eyes, the dark circles, nor how his shoulders bowed just a little bit.</p><p>“You’ll tell them about the modifications to the backend you’ve been planning?” he pressed.</p><p>“I have the specs and the costing.”</p><p>Maul. Not <em>Mister</em> Maul, she recalled. She’d have to thank Phasma for that.</p><p>Some distant part of her was relieved, however: being stuck in meetings most of the day, and getting her team settled, meant she’d be mercifully occupied enough to put the weekend out of her mind for a few hours. If she could avoid the common spaces in the building, all the better.</p><p>She wasn’t hiding, per se —</p><p>The elevator whooshed closed, sending them up sixty floors at a pace that made her heel start ticking. Extracting her tablet to ensure her keynote presentation’s images loaded correctly, she frowned at the screen, ignoring the frequent stops and swishing doors as other passengers joined them and departed.</p><p>“Are you certain you’re alright?”</p><p>She frowned, not looking at him. What would Anakin do, she wondered.</p><p>Giving Obi-Wan a glance, she paused, searching his features and finding nothing but concern there. Ahsoka softened. Anakin wasn’t around anymore. It was up to her to handle things — and she could. She’d done it enough times, through enough sticky situations.</p><p>Obi-Wan let out a breath. “There she is. Thank the stars.”</p><p>Ahsoka smirked and gave him a little slug on the arm.</p><p>“Rough weekend,” she told him. She didn’t offer further details.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>They don’t fuck on the floor. They don’t make it up to his room, either — not right away. She’s spread on the stairs, her hand wrapped around the banister, both knees draped over his shoulders as he makes good on his promise:</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He uses his hands. He uses his mouth. And she’s crying because he pulls back each time she gets close — the overwhelm of each sensation making her pliant, desperate for more — he stops.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He’s edging her, his face between her thighs, laving at the bud of her arousal with a lazy confidence that leaves her spitting curses, her muscles straining. So close.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And he stops again, wiping his chin against the inside of her thigh, crawling over her as she pants, eyes squeezed shut, her body coiled and desperate for release, hyper-sensitized.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He said he’d fuck her in all the right places and all the right ways, but he never said he’d finish her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Please,” she begs. “Please --“</em>
</p><p>
  <em>There’s a satisfaction to his voice as he takes her breast in hand, her nipple tortured to swelling. He licks at it in that same leisurely, ‘I’m going to do this all night’ way —</em>
</p><p><em>And he’s still hard. He’s still </em>fucking<em> hard when she gropes at his fly.</em></p><p>
  <em>“Please what?” he asks.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She breaks with an agonized howl of desperation.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Please, please make me come. Please, I want to — I want you to. Please fuck me, just —“</em>
</p><p>
  <em>When he kisses her mouth, drawing her limp into his arms to carry her the rest of the way to his bed, Ahsoka thinks she sees stars —</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He cradles her to him, whimpering, addled by a need so great she can’t help but cry out as he spreads her on his bed, the sheets immaculate and scented lightly with lavender, and he crawls above her with the briefest rustle of fabric.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Ahsoka, look at me,” he murmurs.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Eyes fluttering open, she sees triumph in his eyes as he sheaths himself inside her, her orgasm a tearing, wild thing that explodes through her — silent and shocking at first, and chased by a perfect oblivion.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She holds his gold gaze through it all.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>The elevator door opened onto a floor whose walls were all glass and concrete. Ahsoka noted the thick carpet, and frowned at the tablet before her, switching to Jira for a quick overview of her team’s burn-down from last sprint. Just in case.</p><p>A familiar red-headed man greeted them, introducing himself as Armitage Hugs, which didn’t seem to settle as comfortably as a name like that should, given his aquiline features and the cool gleam in his gaze; penetrating, like a cut from a razor.</p><p>“Kenobi,” he greeted Obi-Wan, shaking his hands. “And you must be the Technical Director.”</p><p>“Ah — Chief Technology Officer, in fact,” corrected Obi-Wan. “My second in all things.”</p><p>“Well, let’s hope there won’t be much duelling today. I expect your performance would be most fearsome, Ms. Tano.” He smirked. “As your friend Rose tells me, and as your numbers from last quarter indicate.” He chuckled.</p><p>“Hux and Maul work closely together,” supplied Obi-Wan.</p><p>“Operations,” he offered evenly. “Sometimes little better than a glorified, high-level assistant, but I assure you, my mandate is to execute <em>Lord</em> Maul’s will in all things.” He waved. “I’d recommend not using that moniker. I use it liberally and facetiously, and while his sense of humour doesn’t extend very far, I assure you, I remain on pay roll. Anyone else? Well, let’s just say there’s a dumpster out back for the bodies.”</p><p>Hux. Right. Rose’s friend with the hands and the blushing and the —</p><p>“Pleasure’s all mine,” she offered.</p><p>His handshake was firm, warm — but strong for such a bureaucratic twig.</p><p>He gestured them in the general direction of the meeting room, which appeared to be the CEO’s office. Window-walls from floor to ceiling revealed three chairs had been set out before a spacious desk, but the man himself remained hidden behind the back of an executive’s chair, turned away.</p><p>“This will be a debrief,” Hux was saying. “Doubtless he’ll want to clarify the objectives for the new initiative and where Rebel Inc. fits in, but we’d all like to ensure we’re on the same page starting out --“</p><p>He knocked, but didn’t wait, pushing open the door and allowing her entry into the cavernous room.</p><p>Obi-Wan joined her, smiling already.</p><p>This was it, she thought, tampering down any lingering thoughts that she couldn’t shake. Last thing she needed was any self-reflective guilt showing on her face.</p><p>She needed to project calm. She needed to be a consummate professional.</p><p>The chair turned, revealing the crisp lines of an expensive three-piece suit, the buttons of the jacket undone to reveal a red waistcoat over black pinstripes, the tie knotted immaculately at a throat covered in tattoos, the hands — likewise adorned — steepled before the face that had been buried between her thighs not two nights before, making her spit blasphemies and promises, begging him to end her, all the while never knowing his name.</p><p>Ahsoka stilled, those gold eyes settling on hers, an expression so carefully neutral on his face that it revealed no surprise, no fury, no acknowledgement at all — save for only the darkest inkling of some primal stirring, deep within, known only to predator and prey.</p><p>“<em>Shit</em>,” Ahsoka breathed.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Opium Poppy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Official introductions. Hux knows when to get out of the room. Asajj believes in a liquid diet. Or, "Everything's just fine." (Not really.)</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm extra happy to announce that the artwork that I commissioned for this fic is just <i>gorgeous</i>. I've had the opportunity to work with <a href="https://maravoev.tumblr.com">Mara Voev</a>, and it's been a wonderful experience that I hope to repeat VERY soon. Check out <a href="https://octobertown.tumblr.com/post/628334423038951426/pictured-maul-ahsoka-tano-and-paul-the-pug-from">Maul, Ahsoka, and Paul from <i>The Poison Garden</i></a>. &lt;3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Obi-Wan touched her elbow, her little curse remarked and smoothed over with a smile as Hux made the necessary introductions, but Maul had heard her.</p><p>Clarity had returned over hours, the drugs wearing off with steady exertion until befuddled, she’d looked at him unclouded but edged with need — she’d looked at him as if he were the only person in the entirety of the cosmos fit to give her precisely what she wanted, and she’d beg him to do it again.</p><p>Somewhere in the early hours, exhausted, he’d laid her out and done as she’d asked him:</p><p>With a kiss and a smile, he’d tipped her over the edge once, twice — her screams like music, and slipping from her, still hard, he’d eased down her body once more to begin again, supping at her cunt as if he might remember the sweet of that nectar until his ending days. The sounds she made had revived him, and he’d redoubled his efforts, unwilling to let her forget those moments together; as if she might find him worthy to serve at the temple of her body.</p><p>Maul wondered absently if she shared his thoughts — this woman who’d abandoned him in slumber without saying goodbye; this woman who he’d not heard of before save for her last name; this woman who was <em>supposed</em> to be Skywalker’s heir apparent.</p><p>“Kenobi,” he greeted the man.</p><p>Maul’s gaze didn’t travel from her face:</p><p>The play of emotions was subtle, visible only in a slight tightening of her jaw, her widening eyes, and the most delicate stain over her cheeks deepening her complexion by two shades across her nose.</p><p>Delectable.</p><p>“Maul,” Kenobi said, bright-eyed and eager. “Might I present our newly appointed CTO, Ahsoka Tano. I thought I’d put her through the paces with you to get a feel of things here at Malachor.”</p><p>Lifting an eyebrow in amusement that only she might understand, Maul considered informing her superior that he had already, in fact, “put her through her paces” once.</p><p>A smirk threatened, but Maul held firm.</p><p>“Please,” he said instead. “Make yourself comfortable.”</p><p>That she was anything but might’ve been obvious only to him, but Hux’s raised eyebrows suggested that he was being perhaps a little too sterile, even for him.</p><p>Maul closed his eyes a little longer than a standard blink, wrestling his feelings into the semblance of easy interest. He even offered Kenobi a pleasant smile. Hux appeared to repress a shudder.</p><p>“I understand you’ve prepared the infrastructure for the transition,” he said. “You’re familiar with our servers?”</p><p>It was, in some ways, almost better to see the young woman fish gape a moment — thrown that he could speak her language. Or maybe that the question lacked any innuendo whatsoever.</p><p>He’d deal with that later.</p><p>This? This was a test to see how well she could compartmentalize.</p><p>If he could control his hammering heartbeat, school his surprise into something detached and professional, then maybe — <em>maybe</em> he wouldn’t need to think about bending her over his desk.</p><p>Fucking pencil skirts, he thought with no lack of venom.</p><p>Maul glanced at Hux, who in turn glanced at Kenobi, and comically, who looked at Ahsoka, who faltered and cleared her throat.</p><p>“We moved off of Amazon Cloud a handful of years ago, of course,” he continued. “Electing to ensure that we can maintain a consistent service with proprietary failsafes is of import. Our servers are here, in house; in Shanghai, in Canada, in Cambodia, and South Africa. We have locations across Europe and the United States. We tend to them. We manage their uptime, we maintain them, and we do not divide our profits.”</p><p>“You control the code.” She sounded surprised at herself. Shaking her head, she said, “Of course. I knew that, of course — we’re in the last legs of packing up shop, so to speak.”</p><p>And with that, it seemed as if a switch flipped: her gaze clearing as she sat up straighter, punching her thumb to her tablet to unlock it and accessing his television display without need of instruction. Maul leaned back, noting the ease at which Kenobi did the same — grateful, Maul suspected, that his CTO had regained her footing — and turned his attention to the young woman as she rattled off a number of security features her team had custom-coded to ensure a seamless import of their application into the Malachor infrastructure. Lossless. Elegant. Economical.</p><p>“Show me,” he told her, and something sparked in her gaze — she relished a challenge.</p><p>That he <em>knew</em> she liked a little direction? Well…</p><p>It made her nipples pebble, besides.</p><p>Nothing lewd, he noted — just a little excitement. Good.</p><p>He didn’t stare.</p><p>Ahsoka launched her presentation, running him through a brief of the product support they’d integrated, and what the future looked like for the next twelve months, and then she asked for his phone.</p><p>“I’ll run the demo for you remotely,” she said.</p><p>The device was encrypted to hell and back.</p><p>He handed it to her, curious, but interested in her talents.</p><p>So lost in the cadence of her voice, the fluidity of her gestures, the logical conclusions she’d drawn about the Malachor environments before even having glimpsed their code — it was an impressive display. A bold move in replacing Skywalker with his protégé; though untested, she might be molded to fit the form required. A good choice.</p><p>A glance at Hux, who merely shook his head — seeing the dollar signs, no doubt — was all it took for her to puzzle over his firewall, before she tapped in a series of strokes, flicked through his apps with her thumb, and made a rapid selection.</p><p>“Just a second.”</p><p>Kenobi started in on something egregious, but Maul’s attention lingered on Ahsoka’s slender fingers as she used her tablet to key in a few commands, accessing his device, and transplanting the app she wanted wirelessly. She tapped her lower lip, thinking, and he watched transfixed as the screen lit with the demo.</p><p>She gave him a cute shrug, a smile, and handed it back with a, “There you go.”</p><p>And the demo’s blasted logo mocked him from the gorilla glass screen.</p><p>Hux gave him a warning look, but Maul only smothered a smile.</p><p>A hacker too, then, he deduced: Ms. Tano was a prize if he’d ever seen one.</p><p>No one could have cracked his encryption without his own thumbprint, which meant she’d bypassed his bio sig requirements to transmit the application wirelessly from her tablet.</p><p>Clever. Ballsy as hell.</p><p>She crossed her legs at the knee, levelling her gaze on him, unfazed.</p><p>Hux took over then, firing off a number of questions to gauge the status of the team, their needs, their deficiencies, and what adjustments might be made to enable a better integration with Malachor’s devs. Their team had settled in already, but with their calendar’s booked —</p><p>“Ahsoka hasn’t even seen her desk yet,” Kenobi chuckled.</p><p>“I think a tour is in order,” Hux said, standing. “We can arrange for an onboarding session for you if you like, but I often think a more informal approach works best for those on high.”</p><p>A flicker of hesitation in her gaze gave Maul pause — there and gone in an instant. She glanced away before whatever it was could take root, giving him a small, tentative smile and thanking him for his time. He noted the way she smoothed her skirt as she stood, her tablet held before her like she wasn’t a grown woman but a schoolgirl, needing to shield herself. It made her appear impossibly young.</p><p>They turned to leave, but Maul found his voice:</p><p>“Stay a moment, please.”</p><p>Hux glanced between them, and clapped Kenobi on the back, asking him if he preferred tea or espresso in low tones.</p><p>To Kenobi, still hesitating to leave his college behind, Maul tossed a, “Shut the door.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>—</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Slouched in his chair, one elbow on the rest, he regarded her for a long moment. She turned away a beat, collecting herself, but the path of his attention felt like one long, smooth caress from toe to top that made her want to sink to her knees and <em>crawl</em> —</p><p>It was a look he’d favoured her with in the early hours of Saturday morning, almost naked on his granite countertop, when he stepped back and told her to slip her bra off.</p><p>It was the look that followed that stole over her, setting her afire when he instructed her to ease her legs open for him so that he could see her — she sucked in a breath — her <em>cunt</em>.</p><p>Such a strong word. Such a dirty word meant to shock and titillate; meant to make her feel the power of the demand. Warmth pooled low in her belly, remembering the appreciation that followed — the swiftness at which he’d hooked his fingers through the legs of her panties across the front and ripped them, elastic and all, with a violent pop that made her jerk on the countertop.</p><p>She’d gasped, then.</p><p>Now, Ahsoka squared her shoulders and straightened, setting her tablet down once more, and levelled her gaze on him. She did not sit. He rose, instead.</p><p>Maul shucked his jacket from his shoulders, tossing it over the back of his chair and strolling around to the front of his desk.</p><p>He glanced at her, wrapping himself as he claimed the edge and gestured at the chair which she refused in silence.</p><p>Maul swallowed, blinking as though he wasn’t entirely certain where to begin, but doubtless he’d no interest in discussing the particulars of the presentation.</p><p>She searched his face, not sure how to begin, though her heart thrummed and her legs felt gelatinous and her heels hurt, and he looked —</p><p>Damnit. Maul looked like it might be worth getting fired for five more minutes of his fingers in his mouth, telling her what a good girl she was when she sucked on those digits in precisely the way he liked.</p><p>Ahsoka had nearly found her voice when he said, “I’ve something for you.”</p><p>Puzzled, partly because she hadn’t expected to see him again — ever — she followed his gaze left. Sitting on one of the bookshelves to her left were her Jimmy Choos: a little worse for wear, but undoubtedly hers from the party.</p><p>“I texted Hux before we left on Friday night,” he said. “I asked him to retrieve them from the lavatory, thinking I might make good on my nebulous suggestion for a fairy tale beginning.” He rubbed his chin. “If I recall correctly, Cinderella, too, ran off when her carriage threatened to become a pumpkin.” He glanced at her. “It was rather industrious of you to lose both shoes, instead of just the one, I might add.”</p><p>She blew out a breath. “It seems I don’t do anything by halves.”</p><p>Leaning back with a self-deprecating frown, he gestured to himself with a shrug. “Well, you did fuck the CEO.”</p><p>Her face heating, she shifted her weight, hugging her arms to herself.</p><p>“I’m really --“ Her jaw worked. She looked anywhere but him. Blew out a shuddering laugh. “I never do — I mean, I’ve never done —” She stopped. Collected herself. Raised her chin to find him looking at her without any readable expression.</p><p>“I made a terrible error in judgement,” she said.</p><p>He waited a beat, snuffing a laugh to himself. Turned away as if he’d expected as much.</p><p>She stopped him — her hand raised. Ahsoka hovered there a moment. “I judged you based on your appearance. I mean --“ She squeezed her eyes shut. “Shit. This is coming out wrong.”</p><p>He waited, non-plussed and a little amused.</p><p>“I can’t tell if you’re attempting to insult me, or flatter me.”</p><p>She burst, “I didn’t think someone with those kinds of marks on them would be in your position. I thought maybe, at best, you were a sales guy. Maybe tech? Because my IT guys are pretty alternative at the best of times. Lots of ink,” she said. “Tons of piercings. Don’t ask me how I know that,” she warned. Then, more petulantly, “They treat me like their den mother. Tell me too much sometimes.” She pulled a face.</p><p>He tipped his head. “Most people with your talents would at least attempt a Google search.”</p><p>She stared a moment, then jut her chin at his phone. “You think I don’t have every bot I could run trying to dig up something on you? Not even a pic in the Wayback Machine. No social footprint. And ’Maul’ is a pretty unusual surname.”</p><p>She stopped, snapping her jaw shut.</p><p>The admission that she’d internet-stalked him lingered, his expression inscrutable.</p><p>“I find it often best to pass undetected amidst the shadows, Ms. Tano. It’s often easier to conduct oneself when not under the glaring interest of popular media all the time. Moreover, it affords me a measure of privacy.” He looked her over. “That’s in your interests, I assure you.”</p><p>“Is that ‘your’ the general ‘your’ when you refer to your conquests?” It was out of her mouth before she could help it. Clacking her jaw shut didn’t help.</p><p>Puzzling over her, he said after a time, “I’ve no conquests. Not of the flesh.”</p><p>He rose from his seat on the edge of the desk, slipping his hands into his pockets as if the small gesture would bind him somehow from reaching for her.</p><p>“Someone in my position...” he trailed off, shaking his head. “Attachments are difficult. They pose an inherent risk for those I attach myself <em>to</em>.”</p><p>While close enough to touch, they kept their distance — strange to be so familiar with each others’ bodies, but not at all.</p><p>“Then what’s your excuse for Friday night?” she asked.</p><p>She turned her face to him to find a shadow had passed over his countenance, leaving him with a slight frown that she found herself wanting to smooth away.</p><p>The moment stretched, becoming heavy. Resolving himself, he admitted, to her surprise, “I watched you dancing.”</p><p>He searched her features, and it appeared as if he’d say more about it, but elected not to. Damage done, she supposed — they’d long passed the point of no return, and some staunch resolve had to be set in place to get some distance; some perspective.</p><p>Ahsoka sucked in a breath. Blew it out. Smoothed her skirt again, trying to rub off the lingering sensations his proximity inspired in her.</p><p>“I told myself that if I ran into you — here — I’d apologize.” She searched his face, finding his attention lingering on her mouth. “What I did was completely inappropriate —”</p><p>He cut her off, his gaze heavy. “Are you referring to your abrupt departure, or dragging me into the back of a car with your mouth?”</p><p>She sucked in a little breath, her knees squeezing together involuntarily at the reminder. Something throbbed to life in her at that, waking dreams of phantom hands, wrapped around him, under his body, in his lap, in his arms —</p><p>She shivered, her nipples pebbling. She could stop this now. She could end it right there —</p><p>Shutting her eyes, she did her best to collect herself. <em>Both</em>, she wanted to tell him.</p><p>When she looked at him again, she swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’d understand if you expected my resignation,” she said. Surprise registered. “To avoid any possible conflicts of interest.”</p><p>“My dear,” he said, a small, bitter smile tugging at his mouth. “After the demonstration you’ve just given me?” He clucked. “Not in a million years would I allow that to happen. You’re too valuable a asset to lose.” He added, “For the company.”</p><p>Something loosened in her chest at that. She nodded, and with a sigh, combed her fingers through her braids.</p><p>“And you,” he said. “Is it your intention to lodge a complaint for my conduct?”</p><p>She stared, weighing him: he was utterly sincere about it. It didn’t feel right to laugh when she’d begged him to do those things to her.</p><p>“Who would I complain to?”</p><p>“Human Resources. They’d make an inquiry.”</p><p>She blinked.</p><p>He tipped his head. “I answer to a Board of Directors, Ahsoka. I’m not all-powerful. Some might just as soon dispatch me if they knew of the indiscretion. Right under their noses, no less.”</p><p>Letting out a breath, she set her hands on her hips, relaxing a little.</p><p>Good. This was good. They could work together. They <em>would</em> work together.</p><p>“If you’re uncomfortable,” he began, “I can make arrangements. If it’s money —”</p><p>“No!” She jerked, her hand grasping his arm with a familiarity that should have been misplaced. She wrenched it back, clutching it to her chest as if she’d committed some gross breach of his personal boundaries. “No, I just —“ She blew out a breath, resolving to try and keep things as professional as possible — a feat becoming increasingly difficult as his regard darkened. Maul bowed his head, considering the spot on his arm where she’d just touched him.</p><p>“A different sort of discomfort, then,” he said in an undertone.</p><p>His gaze alighting on hers, Ahsoka was reminded of their time together in the early hours.</p><p>Maybe honesty was better. Maybe that would clear the air, relieve her of the smouldering tension that spread through her body at his attention.</p><p>Whatever possessed her to bear herself to him kindled the same fire within her. He needn’t make demands, his presence was command enough. She wanted, she realized — to <em>please</em> him.</p><p>Shuddering a breath, she nodded, watching him. “Yes.”</p><p>His gaze dropped to her mouth, and Ahsoka’s legs threatened to give out at the promise held in that look:</p><p>It spoke of everything they’d done, and everything they hadn’t — but might. If they only surrendered to it.</p><p>“You’ve completely undone me,” he murmured.</p><p>Her heart hammered. She clutched at her elbows, willing herself to withdraw from him as he rose, but wanting to close that distance between them.</p><p>“I am not a man of petty whims,” he said in an undertone. “I am not accustomed to dalliances, flights of fancy… In all things, I endeavour to achieve what ends that I set my mind to. I would not trifle with you, Lady Tano. Believe me — this,” he released a steadying breath. “This is a dangerous game.”</p><p>His gaze was molten. “Is that a warning, or a promise?”</p><p>“It is for you to decide.”</p><p>Her choice, then. Her move.</p><p>Ahsoka shut her eyes, turned away, blinking rapidly. The spell broken.</p><p>She nodded, taking a firm step backwards, pushing down those memories of hands and teeth, the lingering feel of his skin against hers, his cock inside her, her face pressed into his mattress, the way he’d made her beg — over and over — and the way he abandoned himself to the task of her pleasure without fault or failure.</p><p>Looking Maul dead in the eye, she gave him a firm, but polite smile — moving all the things she’d prioritized to the forefront of her mind where she might better examine them:</p><p>Her career. Her title. Her friends. Her product.</p><p>“I look forward to working with you, Maul,” she said evenly, shovelling her flagging strength into it to calm herself. Her heart racketed. This was the right thing to do. She had to be certain of that. “I should go.” She swallowed the lump in her throat.</p><p>In silence, he seemed to arrive at the same conclusion:</p><p>Better to keep their distance. Better to dampen the spark before it might become a blaze.</p><p>“Lady Tano,” he said, a sadness settling around his eyes. “It was a privilege.”</p><p>As Ahsoka turned and fled Maul’s office, her lungs burning and limbs thrumming with everything unresolved and unsaid, she did her best to escape before she could recant her decision.</p><p>Walking away, she wondered at his meaning — her limbs weak with the possibility that he meant not her presentation, nor their conversation, but the brief collision of their lovemaking.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>There was a little warning light atop one of the nearby financial buildings that was otherwise too tall to escape incoming aircraft without signalling its presence. Maul was brooding over it an hour later as the sound of Asajj’s heels clicking through his office doorway pierced the quiet — not really seeing it, of course, but brooding nonetheless at its general vicinity.</p><p>“— Latts, dear, it’s five o’clock somewhere,” she said into her earpiece, pushing through his door without knocking. “A liquid lunch still carries that one key term of import: it’s still <em>lunch</em>.”</p><p>Maul turned halfway in his chair, side-eyeing her as she extracted her phone.</p><p>“I’m texting you the address if you change your mind.”</p><p>He shook his head: once left, once right, and Asajj hesitated.</p><p>“Hold that thought, please. Maul appears to be telling me you’re unwelcome. Maul — incidentally — who is <em>not</em> dead as we suspected, merely in a mood to avoid his friends for forty-eight hours. Yes, I supposed you might consider that one of his ‘fits’.” She paused. “Shall I tell him that?” She paused again, canting her hip to the side and rolling her eyes up. “Well, yes, I suppose the company might think making suggestions as to where various utensils might be shoved could be considered rude.” She smirked. “Nine o’clock then. At the Souk, yes. Off Bleecker. Mmmhmm.”</p><p>She hung up and pursed her lips at him.</p><p>“I supposed that face you’re wearing is as good an explanation as any,” she said.</p><p>“I’m not in the mood, Ventress.”</p><p>She eyed him as if something was amiss. Trailing his gaze, her attention alighted in the abandoned pair of Jimmy Choo heels that Ms. Tano had deigned to forget for the second time, like some bloody portent for further invited indiscretion.</p><p>“Well,” said Asajj on a breath, drawing the appropriate conclusions without his having to say so, bless her.“I am craving a filthy martini and you look like you could use a shot or six. I expect you’ve been tied up somewhere and I expect all the juicy details. Come along.”</p><p>She didn’t wait, her hips swinging as she shoved open his door.</p><p>“I’m borrowing him,” she told Hux on her way out. “Clear his schedule until at least seven.”</p><p>Maul slung his jacket over his shoulder, slouching his way into the hall.</p><p>“She does know I’m not your assistant?” Hux asked after him.</p><p>Maul waved it off, joining Ventress in the lift so that she could link an arm through his to better usher him along if his feet dragged.</p><p>The little bar she liked to frequent around the corner wasn’t occupied by employees over lunch — the prices on their drinks were prohibitive enough, but Asajj favoured their martinis and Maul favourited the privacy, so without having to come to a mutual consensus, they quickly found themselves at their preferred table tucked into the back of the establishment, nestled in the comforting cushion of silence provided by the high booth walls.</p><p>“Tell me you met a girl,” she said without preamble, after ordering for both of them.</p><p>He glowered.</p><p>“A boy?” Her eyes lit.</p><p>He accepted his Old Fashioned, sniffing at the light orange notes, and set it down. She’d not let him leave without an explanation for his behaviour, and if he managed it, Asajj would hound him for days until he offered her some sliver of gossip to slake her appetites.</p><p>“The young lady in question,” he began, “was transcendent.”</p><p>“Oh,” she purred. “Oh, <em>dear</em>. This is good.”</p><p>He bared his teeth. “Rather not. Asajj, your interference left me in a state. Were I any less scrupulous in removing myself from the party before anyone could catch us in the act —”</p><p>She nearly choked on an olive. “At the <em>party</em>?”</p><p>“We made it as far as the lavatory.”</p><p>“You dog.”</p><p>“She was injured. I was tending her wounds.”</p><p>She sat back, curling her lip. “Did you mend her with your hands or your cock?”</p><p>“Asajj,” he said in warning.</p><p>“You <em>dog</em>.”</p><p>He downed his drink in a swig. Asajj matched him, and ordered another round.</p><p>“Was it good?” she pressed.</p><p>He stared long and hard enough, knowing she wouldn’t bloody well back off, but hoping to intimidate her anyways.</p><p>Truth be told, he’d found Ahsoka’s proximity to him and absence a sickness. Two days of contemplating all the things that could have possibly gone wrong, and he found himself, still, bereft an explanation for her abrupt departure. She’d <em>liked</em> it. She still wanted him. She’d admitted to it, and still, she’d denied him.</p><p>Had he asked anything of her?</p><p>Had he even hinted?</p><p>He didn’t understand it at all, and bereft, Maul frowned, the ache in his chest unabated, curdling into another layer of self-loathing painted over his heart.</p><p>Maul told Asajj everything.</p><p>She paid for the drinks. All ten rounds.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. King Cup</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A party at the Loth. A misplaced text. Borrowed loungewear.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p><b>The "Loth":</b> So named as a hat-tip to Lothal, but also I imagine a scenario where someone got a little too wasted (Ezra, probably) and slurrily referred to the loft as the “loth” one night. Sabine made it stick.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When the time arrived at <em>actual</em>-five o’clock, Ahsoka had been seated at her desk for a whole of fifteen minutes. She’d barely had enough time to stretch out her fingertips, arranging her succulent where it’d get the most light, and negotiate the new security protocols on her laptop, before Rose flung open the door, trailed by a harried-looking Ezra and a yawning Sabine.</p><p>“I come bearing gifts!” Rose announced.</p><p>Ahsoka looked between her cohorts. “Younglings?”</p><p>Rose waved them off. “An invitation to your first happy hour as CTO. Down the street. Come on, let’s go. We’re celebrating.”</p><p>Ezra at least had the decency to look discomfited.</p><p>“Rose, honestly, after the day I’ve had --“</p><p>“It’s being paid for by the company.”</p><p>Wary, she sat back. “Out of who’s pocket.”</p><p>“Product Dev,” Sabine supplied, considering her bookshelves. “Apparently the big bad looks after those budget things. Luckily, they made it bigger.” She waggled her eyebrows.</p><p>So it wasn’t because of <em>her</em>, specifically. She relaxed a little at that — the likelihood she’d run into Maul at this get-together unlikely. It wasn’t a special favour. It wasn’t special attention. Okay.</p><p>“I’m really not feeling another public gathering,” she admitted.</p><p>“Then we’ll go back to the Loth. Ez and Sabine won’t mind. We’ll expense it.”</p><p>She must have appeared concerned, because Rose asked for a moment with a closed door, ushering the others out before Ahsoka could protest.</p><p>“Spill it,” she said, tossing herself onto Ahsoka’s couch. “You’ve been weird all weekend. Two word texts and not a single emoji the whole time, and I live down the hall from you. What’s up.”</p><p>Ahsoka pressed her lips together.</p><p>“Oh, that’s how it’s going to be?” said Rose. She eyed her. “You didn’t come home until sunup on Saturday morning. By my keen deduction skills, I’d say you’ve either joined an all-night Fight Club, <em>or</em> —“ She shrugged. “You’re regretting making the best possible mistakes.”</p><p>She leaned back in her chair, pinching her lips together.</p><p>Rose sat up a little more primly, folding her hands at her knees. “Tell me, Ahsoka. Did you enjoy living deliciously?”</p><p>She broke, heaving a sigh and sagging in her chair. Pleading, she admitted, “I fucked up.”</p><p>“Fucked up like you killed someone in a kinky sex thing, or —?”</p><p>Ahsoka covered her face. Thinking it through, she’d need to explain the whole of it, and not just the parts for it to make sense. Foresight was the problem — she’d had none of that when she’d discovered Maul sitting in the CEO spot that morning and made a split-second decision when taking his phone.</p><p>And then <em>afterward</em> — when she’d basically walked out on him a second time…</p><p>Dread and relief and more dread.</p><p>Ahsoka pressed her fingers to her lips, shaking her head.</p><p>“You’re right,” she said, standing. “I do need a drink for this. Or maybe five.” She grabbed her purse. “And probably pizza.”</p><p>Wrenching open the door, Ahsoka found Ezra and Sabine huddled together, eavesdropping. Sabine cracked her gum and gave her a smirk.</p><p>Ezra had less tact. “Can I still congratulate you on your getting laid even though you’re an exec now, or is that going to get me fired?”</p><p>“Fired,” she informed him. “Definitely.”</p><p>He beamed as she cut through them. The sound of the designers' high-five behind Ahsoka’s back doing nothing to improve the knot of moths fluttering around her stomach.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>“She said, ‘I look forward to working with you,’” he said into his glass.</p><p>“Brother,” Asajj clasped his arm. “That’s a far cry from —”</p><p>He muttered something unintelligible, slouching lower. Pinching the bridge of his nose, the world swam, spinning when he closed his eyes.</p><p>“Please, don’t repeat it. Once is enough.”</p><p>“I thought it was eight times.”</p><p>“Might’ve been twelve.”</p><p>Asajj stared. “Colour me impressed, Maul. Didn’t know you had it in you.”</p><p>“I’ve had too much,” he said, frowning at the dregs of his drink. “Certainly shouldn’t have admitted that.”</p><p>“Well, you’re not weeping over the loss, so I’d say you’re not quite at your worst over this girl yet.”</p><p>“I pray it never comes to that.” He gestured for the check, while Ventress pointed at their glasses for a refill.</p><p>“Why, dear? One should think that beyond your worldly ambitious, after all you’ve achieved, you’d take your heart into consideration for a time. There’s no satisfaction in these indulgences if one must experience them alone.”</p><p>He frowned down at himself, weighing how much he could tell her.</p><p>“Always remember, Asajj —“</p><p>A fresh drink was set before him, another libation to weigh him further. He sighed.</p><p>“Always remember that I am fear.”</p><p>“What’s that?” She sipped her martini. “You’re mumbling.”</p><p>He blinked up at her, searching for the words to best explain himself. “I’d sooner not get involved with anyone,” he said slowly, pacing himself as not to slur. “In this line of work, such attachments are only liabilities.”</p><p>Resigned, he lapped at his scotch. When he set it down, his fingers slipped off the glass.</p><p>The old mantra settled about him with hazy insistence as he ran his fingers through the water spots left on the table, shed from their drinks like tears.</p><p>“My position is too precarious,” he said, stirring the sorrows.</p><p>“With the Board?” she asked, frowning. “With Palpatine?”</p><p>Palpatine did not trust him. He watched him, even now — his spies everywhere. Attachments made for liabilities, which left him vulnerable, which left avenues for exploitation readily available, which called for defensive measures, which meant anything of the sort was a terrible idea, not even worth contemplating.</p><p>Maul sighed.</p><p>“Maul, I regret to inform you that while you may sit on high, you’re not the god you think you are. You might refrain from nurturing such an inflated ego to spare yourself the injury of a broken heart, but in doing so, you’ll only cause yourself further suffering. Of that I assure you.”</p><p>He didn’t bother telling her that he and his ‘suffering’ were already familiar bedfellows.</p><p>“I hate it when you get this maudlin,” she said.</p><p>She turned away, setting her drink down and collecting her purse.</p><p>“Asajj —”</p><p>“You’re <em>lonely</em>, Maul,” she informed him. “It’s not an affliction. It’s a circumstance that might be changed.”</p><p>She didn’t understand, though: not the breath of it and neither the depth.</p><p>Ventress collected the check, sliding from their booth. She paused beside him, placing a delicate hand on his shoulder.</p><p>“You know who you are, brother. Ruthless. Brutal. A son of Dathomir is a force to be reckoned with. It was not resignation that allowed you to rise to your position, and easing on by whenever the winds altered course was never your strength.”</p><p>He glanced at her, clasping her fingers where they rested at his collar. She turned up her palm and squeezed his fingers. Stoic reassurance.</p><p>“Be the gale,” she said. “And blow right up that girl’s skirt, if you must, to regain her attention.”</p><p>She released him, patting at her closely cropped hair as she left him, hips swinging.</p><p>He sat a moment longer, contemplating her advice but not knowing how to press an advantage.</p><p>Extracting his cellular phone, the device lit with a swipe. He’d text Hux to clear his morning schedule, he thought — the work that awaited him something concerning the soul, and only solitude and silence of his garden would ease it. The office waited like a cold comfort.</p><p>He paused, hesitating: at the top of his messages was an aberration.</p><p>Frowning, he squinted at the number he did not recognize, his vision doubling. It occurred to him belatedly that he’d handed Ahsoka his phone that morning to set up the application demo.</p><p>It occurred to him that perhaps it was a mistake. Transferred in error along with the application demo she’d sent. He frowned. It seemed unlikely.</p><p>It was a moment before he set the phone down on the tabletop, a sobering conclusion not so far gone. He wiped his sweating palms down his trousers, and thought to himself, “Always remember, I am the hunter.”</p><p>She’d left him her number.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>On her second beer, she caved and asked Sabine for sweatpants. That’s how Ahsoka found herself, sprawled on the ratty couch in the Loth — staring at one of Sabine’s half-finished art pieces and wondering if she was looking at an abstract of a naked girl done in spray paint and newspaper. She’d stolen Ezra’s teeshirt in the attempt to shed the workday in its entirety, and flopped, buzzed, and comfy with two slices of Ma’s Best Pepperoni in her stomach — Ahsoka wasn’t complaining.</p><p>The loft space wasn’t much to look at, but it had big windows and plenty of space, and they’d made it a gallery filled with reclaimed furniture, Sabine’s artwork, and Ezra’s pot paraphernalia after Hera and Kanan had moved into their own place to raise their kid. Zeb stopped by occasionally too, their extended family always welcome in the place they’d once all called home.</p><p>“Do I know her?” she asked Ezra of the painting. He’d planted next to her, making adjustments to an emptied two liter coke bottle. She poked him with her toe.</p><p>“Hmm? Oh, Ketsu sat for her last week. Old college roommate.” He shrugged. “Hot.”</p><p>She kicked him.</p><p>Finn dropped a can of Corona on her stomach, and she lurched in surprise.</p><p>He flopped onto the beanbag chair opposite, setting the remains of the six back on the pallet coffee table between them.</p><p>“You’re going to need that,” he informed her. “Poe has questions.”</p><p>She side-eyed him, exchanging her empty for the fresh drink.</p><p>“Questions about…?”</p><p>He pointed in Rose’s direction by the fridge.</p><p>“She <em>told</em> you.”</p><p>He shrugged.</p><p>“Is <em>nothing</em> sacred?”</p><p>“I was concerned,” said Ezra to Finn, “that Ahsoka’s promotion might make her act differently around us, you know? If the worst that happens is that she learns to unwind a bit, I’d say we’re all better off.”</p><p>“I’m including design in our dev stand-ups from now on,” she shot back.</p><p>He groaned.</p><p>Finn shook his head, not understanding.</p><p>Ezra moaned, “But I don’t want to be accountable for my sprints.”</p><p>She kicked him again, and he sniggered.</p><p>“This is a product thing, isn’t it?”</p><p>“Don’t get her started on Agile, man. She’ll be recruiting you as Scrum Master next.”</p><p>“So,” said Poe, tossing himself onto the couch between them and nearly crushing her legs in the process. “Tell me things about mysterious men who you’ve permitted to get into your panties — after you finish chugging that beer.”</p><p>One handed, she gestured that Finn should pass her another. Maybe if she kept knocking them back, Poe would lose interest.</p><p>He only rearranged her legs over his lap, getting comfy. Even Finn looked at her expectantly.</p><p>Poe, finally, fit to bursting after she hiccuped and attempted to move on to her next drink, stayed her hand.</p><p>Clutching her fingers, he asked her with wide-eyed earnestness, “Are you going to marry him?”</p><p>He was sniggering when she pinched his bicep.</p><p>Poe tossed his arm over the back of the couch, nudging Ezra, who shot her a grin.</p><p>“I’m not going to give you the details.”</p><p>“She’s blushing,” said Finn.</p><p>“I do <em>not</em> blush —“</p><p>“Oh it was <em>good</em> too —“</p><p>Poe chuckled, patting her shoulder. Her face felt like it was on fire.</p><p>“I don’t need the gory bits,” he assured her. “Just let the guy know that if he doesn’t treat you right —” He nodded at his boyfriend. “We’re going to have to have a chat with him.”</p><p>Finn mock-punched his palm, nodding. “<em>A nice chat</em>,” he echoed.</p><p>“Look --“ she started.</p><p>“What are we going to wear to the wedding?” Poe asked Finn. “Do we do matching tuxes, or — do I colour coordinate my tie to your jacket, and like, vice versa?”</p><p>“Is he one of theirs?” Ezra asked.</p><p>The question struck like a grenade, the entirety of the loft falling silent.</p><p>“Ours,” Ahsoka corrected, too quiet. “We’re all in this together now.”</p><p>He raised his eyebrows.</p><p>“She didn’t answer the question,” Poe whisper-hissed.</p><p>She slugged him for real that time. Not hard. But hard enough to make him grin and wince a little.</p><p>“Hey!” Rose barked, threatening Poe with a half-eaten slice of pizza. “No scandals! No rumour-mongering!”</p><p>Poe raised his hands in deference.</p><p>“Okay! Okay! I just — look I just want to know one thing.”</p><p>He jutted his chin in Rose’s direction. “You told her you fucked up. Just tell me what that was.”</p><p>Ahsoka finished her fourth-ish can, rising from the couch with a slight wobble, and sat back down directly.</p><p>Hell.</p><p>Poe slung an arm around her shoulders. “It’s okay, we’ve all done some shit. It’s just your turn.”</p><p>She searched his features. Finding nothing there but understanding, she frowned, her chin crumpling. “I gave him my number.”</p><p>Finn opened his mouth, then clacked it shut, confused. “That’s bad?”</p><p>Poe shook his head once, twice: left, right, left, right.</p><p>“Oh, because — <em>oh</em>. It wasn’t supposed to be more than a one night thing.” He made his best ‘eesh’ face.</p><p>“Thanks Finn,” said Poe, loudly.</p><p>To her, he said in a hush, “Don’t feel bad unless it was bad, okay? Then it’s not a mistake, it’s just a lesson to learn from.”</p><p>She sucked in a breath, contemplating if she could handle one more drink, one more slice of pizza, and then find a small hidey hole to crawl into for a few hours.</p><p>“It wasn’t that,” she said. “It’s just not — He’s not — It would be — it’d be a problem. If it was a thing. And I’m not saying it’s a thing. I was just being a little naive, and —” She chewed her lip. “It was a stupid mistake. Overconfident. I had this moment where I thought there could be something more between us, and that was a mistake. I didn’t look at all the angles.”</p><p>She let out a breath.</p><p>“It’s complicated,” she said. “Nothing’s going to come of it,” she admitted, too quiet.</p><p>Poe’s expression softened. He gave her a squeeze.</p><p>Looking to Finn, it seemed that an understanding passed between them.</p><p>It was Finn who mustered himself. “That’s okay,” he told her. “On to the next, right?”</p><p>Ahsoka gave him a weak smile.</p><p>“But for real, though,” Poe said, too loud. “How was the d?”</p><p>“Gravity bong, anyone?” Ezra offered, his voice shrilled.</p><p>The device he set on the table looked more like a homemade bomb than a —</p><p>
  <em>BANG!</em>
</p><p>The door was flung open, admitting harried-looking Rey who held a hand out to Rose without looking in the direction of the kitchen. A can slapped to her palm as if magnetized.</p><p>She cracked it open, not saying hello to anyone, and proceeded to chug it.</p><p>“Someone’s having a bad time,” Ezra observed.</p><p>“She had her first one-on-one with that Kylo guy,” Sabine supplied, from the kitchen.</p><p>“Hey, Peanut —” Finn started, only to be interrupted by Poe:</p><p>“Why is she wearing a scarf? It’s August.”</p><p>“— Unless she’s hiding something?”</p><p>They exchanged a glance, and leapt.</p><p>“No!” Rey pointed at Finn, and then Poe, “Definitely not!”</p><p>Ahsoka turned away, smiling into her hand.</p><p>Rey ran. They gave chase.</p><p>Once they’d successfully cleared the dining table, tumbling out of sight down the hall, Ezra blew out a long breath, his eyebrows raised. “So, it’s totally none of my business —“ he started.</p><p>She peered at him.</p><p>He shrugged. “You’re a catch, Ashla. If the guy doesn’t get that now, he’s honestly not worth the effort of thinking about why that is.”</p><p>She didn’t have the heart to tell him the truth.</p><p>“Thanks, Ez.”</p><p>“I’m gonna —“ he gestured vaguely in the direction of the hall, getting up. “Rey looks like she can use a little — yeah.”</p><p>Alone again, Ahsoka sank back into the ratty cushions, chucking a leg onto the table, her flip-flop hanging, the other propped against the armrest. The booze helped, even if it was a bandaid solution that wouldn’t last. The temporary distraction of her friends and the fuzzy feels of getting a little tipsy had taken her mind off Maul for the better part of four hours — long enough to relax just enough to not notice the time.</p><p>Nearing ten p.m on a Monday night, surrounded by friends, her introspection was turning a little blue at the edges. Friday had been a good night, she thought.</p><p>Friday had been <em>really</em> good, in fact.</p><p>What had been intended as a distraction had verged into territory where fantasy skirted reality, and letting herself succumb to the pleasure of being intimate with someone of Maul’s skill left her feeling <em>so</em> good that it was impossible to not think of what the next step might’ve been if she hadn’t walked out of his office that morning.</p><p>She couldn’t forget their meeting on the dance floor, nor how he’d literally whisked her off to tend to her injuries — a kindness and a strength in the gesture, because honestly, who did that sort of thing anymore?</p><p>She pinched the bridge of her nose. She hadn’t thought herself the type to be into grand chivalrous gestures, much less have any interest in being (literally) swept off her feet, but…</p><p>No one had ever done that to her before.</p><p>No one would dare <em>try</em>.</p><p>And Maul had <em>tried</em> to be a gentleman with her. It <em>was</em> her fault that they’d ended up in the back of his towncar, given that she’d practically dragged him on top of her.</p><p>She jiggled her heel, her body awake to the ghost of his touch.</p><p>The thought settled:</p><p>What would she do now?</p><p>The look Maul wore as she’d turned away from him swam in her memory, leaving her insides to sink into a shadowed hollow with smooth, mirrored walls — difficult to extract herself from when all she might do when at the bottom was over-examine everything that had transpired, and the whole lot of nothing she’d done about it except deny herself.</p><p>She was more responsible than that.</p><p>She had self-control.</p><p>She had a shred of dignity, still.</p><p>That didn’t mean she didn’t <em>want</em> him.</p><p>Her phone vibrated, lighting on the table where she’d chucked it hours before.</p><p>Some notification, probably. Her Do Not Disturb might’ve expired.</p><p>She reached for it, unlocking the screen, and stopped —</p><p>The world seemed to tilt, taking her with it.</p><p>Heart chugging into a gallop, she stared a little longer than strictly necessary, trying to deny the words that resolved itself in a text from a number she didn’t recognize, but knew to whom it belonged without having to second guess.</p><p>Goosebumps prickled down her arms as a second message rolled in.</p><p>And then a third.</p><p>She rose, collecting her bag blindly, forgetting her work clothes in the plastic grocery bag on the counter.</p><p>“Gotta go,” she said to no one and everyone at once, her heart in her throat. She threw a quick smile at a confused Rose, launching herself into the hall before anyone could stop her. “I’ll see you later.”</p><p>She was already texting her reply as she snuck into the lift, mashing the button to send her to the ground floor.</p><p>Her hands shook, staring at the address she’d sent him.</p><p>The reply arrived in a heartbeat:</p><p>
  <em>The car will be there in five minutes.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>—</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He entered the building at a quick clip, needing to beat her there. A nod at security, dismissing them, was sufficient.</p><p>“Don’t lock it, yet,” he said of the door, wiping his face.</p><p>His skin felt like rubber and prickled with sensation.</p><p>What had he done?</p><p>Jellied and sluggish, he expected he didn’t stagger — for which he was grateful — but his footing wasn’t precisely what it ought. Maul turned on the spot, the cavernous interior of Malachor Corp. voided of everything except expectation.</p><p>She didn’t text again, and he wasn’t certain he was grateful.</p><p>There was nothing he wanted to say to her in the condition he was that wasn’t face to face.</p><p>Yet —</p><p>A message from the driver confirmed that she’d gotten into the car he’d sent.</p><p>She was coming to him, delivered to a drunken fool as the clock ticked toward eleven.</p><p>He shook his head and made for the elevator to await her arrival, unthinking, his palms damp with nerves, his body humming, his wretched heart in his throat.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>It didn’t make sense, at first. The car stopped beneath the Malachor Corp. sign, the building’s lights dimmed for the night. A lone security guard waited at the desk as she slipped from the towncar, not knowing how to proceed — not entirely knowing what she should do, even though Maul’s request was plain:</p><p>
  <em>Ahsoka,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>As a man who has everything in the world at his disposal, I am deprived of the one thing outside my power to command: your company.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Far be it for a fool to make such requests of a Queen, I find myself in the unique position to be dispossessed of my better senses. Please, my Lady — if I were to send a car, would you come to me?</em>
</p><p>The door buzzed, the security guard, unsmiling, gestured for her to enter. He said nothing, turning back to his television as she found herself back at the office, alone.</p><p>The thought that this was an idiotic idea surfaced but briefly, punctuated by the <em>ding!</em> of the elevator at the end of the hall. The doors opened, revealing a black-and-red-clad man, tipped against the wall, hands in his pockets, one ankle crossed over the other.</p><p>So far away, his gaze smouldered, alighting on her, turning her lithe and light and compelling her forwards down that long stretch of marble hallway, her flip-flops making the most appalling noises.</p><p>He tipped his head, a quizzical expression forming at seeing her — and Ahsoka realized she was still wearing Sabine’s lounge clothes, her hair bound in thick braids on either side of her head. She stopped, smiling to herself, unable to hide the flush in her face. Taking a breath, she resumed her forward march while wrestling the giddiness that bubbled inside her at how ridiculous it all seemed, all of a sudden.</p><p>Halfway there, Maul’s shoulders shook, a grin flashing on his face that he smothered with his hand.</p><p>Ahsoka rolled her eyes, squared her shoulders, and flip-flopped the rest of the way to his side.</p><p>He tipped his head, taking her in with that small, wicked smirk on his face.</p><p>“My dear,” he murmured as the doors shut on them. “Take those ghastly things off this instant.”</p><p>She laughed then — a joyful, booming sound in the small space. Covering her face, Ahsoka groaned, finding him smiling at her a beat longer. The giggles subsided, and through her fingers, she found his gaze stealing over her.</p><p>“You’re radiant,” he said.</p><p>She rolled her eyes, kicking off the sandals.</p><p>“That was terrible.”</p><p>He dampened his grin, his gaze darkening as he peered at her toes. Some reminder stirred in him at that, and Ahsoka watched as it sobered his expression. When she looked up at him once more, those golden eyes held hers — hungry and contemplative. She sucked in a little breath at the warmth that eased through her middle, sudden and unbidden, at Maul’s attention.</p><p>He searched her face.</p><p>“I would make a suggestion,” he said. “If you’d permit me.”</p><p>She licked her lips. “Yes?”</p><p>He stood, drawing closer, looming a head taller than her and filling her space with the scent of him.</p><p>“What was discussed this morning could be but partially eradicated from the record of our shared history. A note that was considered, remarked upon, and discarded for a more advantageous agreement. For both of us.”</p><p>Her heart hammered. He touched her braid, lightly drawing traceries with his fingers that made her want to press her cheek into his hand.</p><p>It occurred to her that they’d arrived at a point in their journey that neither of them had anticipated — another marker on he path that warned for certain danger, or in the very least, decided complications.</p><p>Her pulse fluttered at her throat, her hands suddenly awkward.</p><p>She licked her lips. He watched the small movement of her mouth.</p><p>“I think that might be amenable,” she said.</p><p>Maul nodded, his countenance shadowed, easing into a stance that was both relaxed and calculated — designed, she thought — to make her puddle into pliancy before him.</p><p>It appeared as if he were considering his next steps, but she suspected: he already knew exactly what he wanted of her. And how.</p><p>“Good,” he said on a breath.</p><p>Raising his hand, he crooked a finger beneath her chin, tipping her mouth to his as he leaned in. Her eyes fluttered to half-lidded, and he whispered, “Ahsoka, my Lady. Slip your hand into your panties for me.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>For those of you who've left kudos or comments, or who's said hi over on Tumblr -- thank you for your support. You make the writing process much less lonely, and I appreciate it more than words can convey. </p><p>I'm aiming for a <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26051293/chapters/63355525">Brightside</a> update this weekend as well to conclude the fic, barring incident, so if you want another dose of Maul from a different but adjacent universe, check it out.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Angel's Trumpet</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The truth and the sublime. Paul. A raison d'être. The black gate.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>You're getting this update a day early because I'm off-grid and fireside this weekend in a little cabin where there is no internet. Please enjoy. </p><p>...</p><p>My love and respect to Feral, who did not make it into this draft, but will be honoured elsewhere in another story. RIP little cinnamon roll. You were too good for this universe anyway.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He hadn’t touched her save for her chin, and already she could feel the warmth and wet gathering between her legs at his command. Eyes fluttering open, Ahsoka looked up to find his lidded attention on her face.</p><p>“You’ve the prettiest blush,” he murmured against her mouth. “Are you embarrassed?”</p><p>She let out a shaky breath, her nipples pebbling.</p><p>“No.” She swallowed.</p><p>A slight smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, his thumb grazing her cheek. So gentle that she sighed.</p><p>“I suspected as much. Seeing you today in your full faculties, I know that your self-possession is remarkable; a strength many cannot manufacture. Intelligent. Beautiful. Strong.”</p><p>She shivered.</p><p>“But you like it when I tell you what to do.”</p><p>Stealing a breath, she confessed, “I do.”</p><p>A slow smile spread, and he <em>hmm</em>ed thoughtfully.</p><p>“— Which makes me wonder: do you wish to please me, Lady Tano?”</p><p>He stood close enough that the scent of him filled her mouth, turning her senses heavy. His nearness made her body ache, a tingling need to be closer to him suffusing her limbs with the delicious, dangerous desire to close the distance between them — to rub her breasts against his chest and tuck into his hard planes.</p><p>She found her voice. “Yes.”</p><p>His fingertips found her forearms, grazing light enough to draw a shiver from her.</p><p>“There is nobody here but you and I. No one else in this building. There is a security camera at my back, but I assure you — the guard will not see what we are about to do in this position, with me blocking you from his view through the lens.” He murmured, “We are going to the sixty-sixth floor, my dear. My private quarters. There is time yet for you to tell me precisely what your cunt feels like.”</p><p>She let out a small sound, barely a whimper as the pressure inside her spun from hot to throbbing.</p><p>“Don’t you agree?”</p><p>He searched her features.</p><p>She shivered at the intensity of his gaze. “Yes.”</p><p>Maul wet his lips, leaning into her just a little as if he meant to kiss her, but stopped himself.</p><p>“‘Yes, <em>sir</em>,’” he corrected in a purr. “‘Yes, <em>daddy</em>.’”</p><p>She shook, struggling to keep her hands to herself a moment more. Her insides quaked, struggling to keep herself from falling into him.</p><p>His breath was a puff of darkness against her mouth, “‘Yes, <em>my Lord</em>.’”</p><p>Ahsoka let out a shuddering breath, as if he could make her come by command alone.</p><p>“Yes, sir,” she whispered.</p><p>He put a fist against the wall, moving into her.</p><p>She turned her face into his throat, and breathed, “Yes, daddy.” He stiffened, groaning his appreciation.</p><p>And finally, Ahsoka’s breath hitching, “<em>Please</em>, my Lord.”</p><p>He stilled, pressing his lips to her temple, and breathed with some restraint she couldn’t possibly begin guessing at, though it sounded strained, “Good girl.”</p><p>Bowing his head to her ear, she stepped back as he did — a warm breath down her neck leaving her trembling as he eased her to the elevator wall, bracketing her in with an arm near her head, the other at her waist.</p><p>“Then do as I say, Ahsoka,” he murmured. “Slip your hand down the front of your trousers, and ease them into your panties.”</p><p>She moved, her hands belonging to someone else: with one thumb, she loosened the drawstring at her waist, and sucking in a little breath, delved her other hand over the damp lace at her core.</p><p>“Slowly, my dear.”</p><p>His gaze trailing her body, he hmmed at the connection point where her hand vanished beneath jersey.</p><p>“Draw your knickers down for me.”</p><p>Maul touched her hand, pressing into her and pressing her into herself through the fabric.</p><p>She sucked in a small breath, and he considered her parted lips. “Slip your fingers into your folds. Ease them into yourself.”</p><p>She obeyed, her lashes brushing his cheek as he watched her, his breath at her collar.</p><p>“<em>Two</em> fingers.”</p><p>She whimpered. He caressed her hand through the cloth, forming his fingers around hers, pressing deeper, curving them upwards into herself. He replaced his palm with his knee, holding her there, the heel of her hand against her clit, her juices drenching her palm, the pressure steady. </p><p>Turning his face into her ear, he purred, “Tell me what you feel like.”</p><p>Her other hand gripped at her sweatpants. Her toes curled against the carpet.</p><p>She almost sobbed, arching her back to get more pressure where she needed it.</p><p>“Are you wet for me, my darling?”</p><p>She folded into his chest, but he pushed her back, pinned at the hip — legs weak, her panties drenched.</p><p>“I’m soaked.“ Her breathing hitched.</p><p>“Tell me.”</p><p>“I’m warm, Maul — and soft, and so, so wet. My panties — they’re ruined.” A shudder eased through her at the look he regarded he with.</p><p>He removed his knee, freeing her to move. She rubbed herself, her hips bucking of their own volition, trying to find friction where he’d taken it away.</p><p>“Give me your hand.”</p><p>He stepped away, and in the chill that met her bare stomach, her grasping fingers found her breast, her hips caving backward. She squeezed herself, trying to divert the tension, but he pulled her grasping fingers from her body — tacking them to the wall beside her head.</p><p>Slipping around her waist and pressing her backward into the wall, he held her up before her legs could fold under.</p><p>The length and heat of him pressed into her hip, jarring her into an awareness of his body over hers: muscle and sinew and heat, breathing hard, demanding nothing but all of her.</p><p>Ahsoka’s head rolled back, desire overriding her better senses. Maul took her gently by the wrist,pulling her hand away from herself, lifting her fingers up to the light.</p><p>Whimpering at the loss of contact, he waited until she focused on him once more.</p><p>Her juices slicked her fingers to the knuckles, and Maul held her gaze as he sucked them, one at a time, into his mouth. His tongue — hot against her skin — licked them clean.</p><p>“Fuck,” she managed, heat spreading from her core, her insides molten, her limbs weak. She rutted against his leg, unable to stop herself from squirming.</p><p>He pulled his mouth away, and shuddering a sigh, his eyes half-lidded, crushed his mouth to hers.</p><p>Scooping her higher, he slipped his hand down the front of her sweatpants to replace her fingers with his own as he kissed her, spreading her apart, his thumb making abbreviated circles against her clit. She gasped, but he swallowed the sound, his tongue delving into her mouth with the same insistence of his touch: opening her to him with sure, confident strokes.</p><p>He withdrew, pressing into her once more with a third finger — filling her to the brim so that she gasped, climbing higher up his body, her fists knotted into his lapels as he devoured her mouth.</p><p>Ripping away, he growled, “Don’t you dare come for me yet.”</p><p>But he fucked her into the wall anyway at a punishing pace, his hand his best substitute for his cock.</p><p>He watched her face as her lips parted with quiet gasps, her world narrowing to the beat of his body against hers, blackening at the edges of her vision as all Ahsoka’s efforts focused on the feel of him inside her —</p><p>Tightening. <em>Tightening</em>.</p><p>“You’re mine, Lady Tano — and you will <em>not</em> come until I say you may.”</p><p>The heel of his hand notched in the right place to provide pressure she needed, and Ahsoka threw her head back, her mouth opening as she howled his name, her orgasm breaking over her in a rush that she could no longer fight —</p><p>She bucked against him, cresting, keening as the aftershocks rolled over her with a force that sent pins and needles rocketing through her legs. Maul held on, grinning into her throat, his strokes turning soothing — three fingers easing to two, the heel of his hand drawing out the lingering roils of tension from her in waves.</p><p>Ahsoka sagged backwards, her legs no longer so certain of her weight.</p><p>Gentler still, Maul kissed her neck. She groaned.</p><p>Winding her arms around his shoulders, he returned to her mouth, easing his tongue against hers with lazy, soothing strokes.</p><p>She whimpered as he slipped from her, dragging wetness up her stomach and smoothing his hand down her thigh. Arms looping lazily at his shoulders, the elevator <em>beeped!</em> to signal their arrival.</p><p>He drew back, smug and satisfied as he peered down at her.</p><p>“Did you enjoy that?” he murmured.</p><p>He pressed a kiss to her jaw; to her cheek. She purred at his ministrations as he stroked her back — her thighs, her arms. She kissed him back, melting into the feel of his body against hers, his hands cupping her ass and leaving her warm and subdued. Safe.</p><p>A dopey smile threatened. She felt delicious.</p><p>“Yes,” she sighed. “Thank you.”</p><p>His grip tightened on her, a low sinister chuckle rumbling through his chest. Maul bared his teeth in the semblance of a smile.</p><p>“Good,” he purred, drawing her from the wall to lead her into the dimly lit room that awaited them. He tucked her arm into his, pressing a kiss to her knuckles, and murmured, “I hope you like your punishment for disobeying me just as much.”</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>She paused, her eyes wide and blue and shining, her hand slipping from the crook of his arm. She stared at him in disbelief for a beat, processing what he’d just said — and laughed.</p><p>It was a joyful sound, echoing into the cavern of his apartments.</p><p>Unable to help himself, a small smile tugged at Maul’s mouth.</p><p>“You find the promise of retribution amusing?”</p><p>He glanced at her arse, finding her sweatpants impossible, but the suggestion laden:</p><p>“We should discuss the terms of this arrangement,” he murmured. “For example, if you displease me, should we find ourselves familiar enough for me to set you across my lap, would you be better behaved with an open-handed spanking, or something perhaps a little more stiff.”</p><p>Ahsoka paused, her eyes narrowed. Pink graced her cheeks again, and he made a note of it.</p><p>“Like what?” she asked. “A ping-pong paddle?”</p><p>He waited, letting it sink in that there was no joke in it.</p><p>“I’m not afraid of you, Maul,” she informed him, but it came out breathy.</p><p>He stepped towards her, taking her hand.</p><p>“It’s not my intention to scare you, dear heart.” He pressed his lips to her knuckles. Raising an eyebrow, he turned her so that he could smooth his fingers down her back, to her bottom, giving it a little pat, then soothing it. Leaning into her ear, he murmured, “I am pressing what buttons I may, to see what arouses you.”</p><p>She turned the storm upon him, her irises darkening. “I suppose there’s much we’ll need to explore together, then.”</p><p>His grin turned near-feral.</p><p>The thought that he might strip her of her silly loungewear then and there crossed his mind, but he held back, exhaling heavily.</p><p>“I look forward to it, my Lady,” he managed, but strangled. “By some grace, we have hours yet.”</p><p>With a gesture, the lights lifted, lighting the rooms around them. He moved to kiss her, but she stopped, turning as her attention shifted to the foyer they found themselves in — the recessed living area beyond and the open kitchen. The <em>windows</em> — the city beyond sparkling like stars in deep space.</p><p>The other rooms to the back of the floor were tucked behind various closed doors, but the rest of it —</p><p>She turned to him with a quizzical expression. “You — have a penthouse on top of the office?”</p><p>“Well, I suppose this is the top floor.” He swept a hand across his chin. “After so many late evenings, it eventually seemed reasonable to find a comfortable, closer place to sleep instead of beneath my desk.” He gestured. “These apartments are mine. Accessible by bio signature exclusively, and to those whom I grant permission.”</p><p>A skittering in the shadows caught her attention, and she turned at the sound: nails clicking on polished concrete, trundling to hesitation.</p><p>“The beast comes,” he told her. “Protector of my demesne.”</p><p>That drew out a wary expression, at last.</p><p>A snuffed bark in the dark.</p><p>“Paul,” called Maul. “We’ve a guest.”</p><p>A snorfle, and a short-legged, somewhat lumpy dog trotted into the light. Its tongue lolled, and when Maul clapped his hands to his knees, it barrelled forward at a scarper — straight at Ahsoka’s legs.</p><p>She shuttled backwards two paces. Head tossed back, tongue lolling, eyes buggly — Paul leapt at her, trotting around her ankles, nasally barks muffled by his plump chops.</p><p>“Paul, this is Ahsoka. Ahsoka,” he gestured. “Paul.”</p><p>Pausing a beat at his name, Paul made a snorfling noise and pitched himself at Ahsoka’s knees. Laughing, she scooped him up.</p><p>Paul wheeze-panted, his stumpy legs dangling. He licked at her chin, and Maul, pleased, tipped his shoulder to the wall to watch.</p><p>“He’s four. And inconceivably spoiled.”</p><p>“You --“ She sounded on him, Paul lapping at her face. “You have a <em>pug</em>.”</p><p>He lifted a shoulder.</p><p>“An acquaintance recommended I find companionship. We adopted each other.”</p><p>Smiling, confused, she said, her eyes narrowing, “You’re — Maul, are you secretly a cinnamon roll?”</p><p>He smirked at her, gesturing for her to follow him.</p><p>“I’ve an image to maintain,” he said, shaking off his jacket. Passing his bedroom, she set down the squirming dog, who yapped at him, circling at their feet. Paul wore a jaunty red bow at his throat, his little piggy tail wriggling in delight at the new company.</p><p>Ahsoka bent, cooing at him, and Paul — the little opportunist — lapped up the attention.</p><p>Clever boy, he thought.</p><p>Maul chucked the jacket to his bed, leaving the doors wide for her to get a better look at the city lights in the floor to ceiling windows beyond. “My attachments are few; I like to keep certain things private. Paul would be a PR nightmare, given how I prefer peace before paparazzi.”</p><p>Ahsoka breathed an expletive. “You are a package to be unwrapped.”</p><p>His grin, he was certain, might’ve been better suited on a shark.</p><p>“Would you care to unwrap my package, Lady Tano,” he murmured.</p><p>She pointed at him in warning. Dropped her hand. “Yes, but that’s not my point.”</p><p>He chuckled, gesturing her to join him as he loosened his tie and undid his cufflinks, setting them on a low table as he passed.</p><p>“Drink?” he offered. “I’ll need to let the creature out, else he’ll piss in one of the plants again out of spite.”</p><p>“Maul and Paul,” she said after him. “What other surprises do you have up your sleeves?”</p><p>The little beast panted at him as he led him to the balcony terrace, sliding open the enormous doors that opened onto a patch of turf. Paul trotted out, happy to do his business wherever he damn well pleased. Maul glanced at Ahsoka, turning on the spot to better take it in:</p><p>The living quarters. The exercise room. The dojo. His home office and the multiple monitors mounted to the wall within it —</p><p>He was collecting a bottle from the fridge when he heard her intake of breath.</p><p>“One point five terabytes of RAM,” he nodded at the innocuous-looking computer tower in his office.</p><p>She frowned at him. “That’s a fifty thousand dollar Mac Pro.”</p><p>He shrugged as he rejoined her, handing her a glass of chilly white wine, the surface already beginning to sweat.“It came with a keyboard.”</p><p>A small smile tugged at her mouth. “But not a monitor.”</p><p>He tinked his glass against hers in toast.</p><p>“Would you care for a tour?”</p><p>Concealing her half-smile behind her wine glass, her gaze slid down his torso. She cleared her throat, tipping her head to the side in a manner that suggested she knew he wanted to show off, and she’d permit it so long as they both understood what their end destination would be.</p><p>Her voice gravelly, she slipped her hand into the crook of his arm. “Lead the way.”</p><p>Paul tottered inside, finding his preferred spot on the couch, and plopped down, proceeding to lick himself.</p><p>“Tell me,” Maul said, leading her through the small study he kept off the kitchen. “How did you find your first day?”</p><p>Books lined the walls, the ambient lights activating automatically as soon as they stepped in the room. Set on a dimmer, they bathed the shelves in amber light.</p><p>Ahsoka glanced at him over her shoulder, wrestling with the joke. She licked her lips. “I spent my afternoon in meetings meant to introduce me to an architecture that isn’t so foreign that I don’t understand the potential for practical application,” she said, lifting a shoulder. “Med tech is — was — our bread and butter.”</p><p>“So you appreciate the implications?”</p><p>She sipped her wine.</p><p>“I appreciate that your core platform helps people who might not otherwise have access to the technology to cure them. It appreciate that we can make it accessible.”</p><p>“An altruist, Lady Tano,” he hummed. “Colour me unsurprised. But you sound unimpressed.”</p><p>She looked at him. “You know there’s a lot of other ground that can be covered, right? An app offering medical consultation and deployment to service is a great start — but there’s so much more that we should be doing. Symptom analysis and diagnosis via app is a <em>great</em> start. Databases to qualify the severity of ailments, using photo or video matching — amazing. Medicine delivered to a person’s doorstep by drone drop-off at the tap of a button?” She waved. “Love it. Done it. Next.”</p><p>“What do you propose?”</p><p>She searched him, a wry smile fleeting across her features. “I think you already know what I’m going to say.”</p><p>He looked at his shoes, playing innocent.</p><p>“I suspect we’re already on the same page, Ahsoka. Humour me and play the psychic a moment — what’s our next logical step in this field?”</p><p>She chewed her lip. “Smaller than an app.”</p><p>A slow smile crept across her face. “Small like… molecular small.”</p><p>He lifted a shoulder. “Our endeavours in the medical technology cross ordinary boundaries, but the principles are ever the same: diagnose, monitor, prevent, and treat the disease through the use of technology.”</p><p>“Nanotech,” she breathed.</p><p>He waved — <em>que sera sera</em>. A smile threatened. She’d arrived at that conclusion quickly.</p><p>“Why ever else would we have acquired your company if not for your portfolio. Rebel Inc.’s the progressive partner that we sorely need. Not to mention you’ve the talent pool for it.” He paused, weighing how much he could tell her of his plans for the future. “We are industry leaders, and we are unafraid of our position. We can afford to take certain risks. We only needed the talent to make that vision a reality.”</p><p>“The greater the risk, the greater the reward.”</p><p>He snuffed a laugh, considering her.</p><p>Interest lit her gaze. When she next surveyed him, it was with calculated admiration.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>Bold of her. He could appreciate that sort of directness.</p><p>“Everyone has an m.o.,” she said. “What’s your driver?”</p><p>He meandered forward, perching on the back of the couch. Half frowning, half shrugging, he offered a bald answer: “Profit?”</p><p>She scoffed. “If that were the truth I’d say you’re not half as interesting as you make yourself seem.”</p><p>She smirked at him, draining her glass. Extracting the bottle, he poured her another, and set it down on a side table.</p><p>“The evening I met you, you suggested we trade stories,” he said. He pointed at the mantle over the fireplace, the gas flames dark. “You asked of my tattoos.”</p><p>He glanced up, and Ahsoka’s gaze followed.</p><p>“They’re to honour my brother.”</p><p>A portrait hung there of two boys — austere in their fineries. Maul was barely a teenager, and —</p><p>“Savage was all of twenty-three when he passed.” He tried for a smile, but it didn’t meet his eyes. “His degeneration felt like it occurred overnight, though in reality it may have been a handful of weeks spent at hospital.“ He frowned. “I like to think he did not suffer long.”</p><p>He looked back to her, some shadow of pain lingering.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>Savage stood a head taller than the younger Maul: a composition of monstrous lines, his skin covered in familiar markings. The teenaged version of her companion carried tattoos on his hands, a splotch on his neck, but his face was otherwise unadorned. Unsmiling. His eyes flinty. Handsome and angry.</p><p>She suspected he might’ve been a handful at that age.</p><p>She suspected that he might’ve found himself on an entirely different path, had his circumstances not changed.</p><p>She blinked rapidly, turning away. Setting down her glass, she appeared to weigh what she might tell him next. “I know what it feels like to lose a brother.”</p><p>The weight of his gaze settled on her like a caress — inquisitive and heavy, but not imposing.</p><p>“I’m sorry.” She met his stare. Her eyes burned a little, but she gave him a short, tight smile.</p><p>She let the admission fall like an autumn leaf. Enough said for the moment. She brushed it away.</p><p>He considered her, tucking away the thread of conversation for later, she was certain.</p><p>It was an open door: an invitation for him to step through, when they were both ready.</p><p>“Thank you,” Maul said, but Ahsoka didn’t think he meant for the sympathies.</p><p>They stared at each other a moment further, considering the shift of things — the moon turning to reveal its dark half. Was this the beginning of intimacy, she wondered.</p><p>He poured himself another glass, but did not sip at it.</p><p>“I was made Palpatine’s ward shortly after,” he continued. “He saw a hunger in me, I suppose, I didn’t know in myself until my family was ripped from my life. Some ambitions cannot be denied; they might only be honed into a blade sharp enough to cut through the fraught sinews of an old system that finds discomfort in change.”</p><p>Rising, he gestured for her to take his hand.</p><p>She slipped her fingers into his, and he led her from the room with a small, sad smile.</p><p>“I suspect you would have liked him,” he said. “Savage was a little like a puppy dog. Very keen. Loyal to a fault.” His smile was tremulous.</p><p>She squeezed his fingers.</p><p>“I endeavour to honour his memory in every step forward,” he said. “Perhaps, one day, another pair of siblings will not be parted so abruptly as a result of my efforts.” He gestured about them to the squashy armchairs and the piano that sat in the corner. More books, too. “This is the conservatory.”</p><p>A set of glass doors at the back of the room revealed the verdure and bloom of greenhouse beyond.</p><p>“And that is my sanctum,” he said. “My garden.”</p><p>Stilling, she moved forward without him a pace. Puzzled, Ahsoka turned back. He stared at the door, a shadow falling over his features. When his gaze fell on hers, he appeared a stranger only a moment: a complex movement of emotions passing through him at once.</p><p>“Do you want to stop here?” she asked, his conflict practically palpable.</p><p>It was a moment further before he answered, “I’ve never admitted anyone to the greenhouse before.”</p><p>She told herself she didn’t feel the pinch of it, and she smiled, touching his arm. They’d known of each other all of four days, their collisions brief and furious — and while there was potential to see what might be explored, it wasn’t something she’d ask of anyone: to divulge those parts of themselves that were too sacred to be shared. In time, maybe that trust could be earned, but —</p><p>“It’s okay.” She gestured that they should turn back, but he stopped her.</p><p>“You misunderstand, my Lady.” He shook his head, his expression clearing with something that might’ve been wonderment after a lightning strike: debilitating, but powerful. “I’ve never <em>wanted</em> to before.”</p><p>He drew her before him, pulling out a keycard and swiping it before the communications device attached to the door. They swished open with a breath, letting the pungent, loamy, wet-green scent of fecund things barrel over her.</p><p>Heavy leaves dripped overhead, the hydroponics system misting waxy fronds and trunks and flowers at intervals. The air was humid enough that it clung to her skin, leaving a fine dew on her arms, and making her shirt cling to her back.</p><p>Maul drew her forward down a little pebble path that spun into the rooftop jungle of creepers and vines, night-blooming flowers peeking between tree roots, and when they’d arrived at the small clearing at the centre, he tipped her chin up to see so few stars winking through the glass roof in the city sky beyond. A fountain bubbled nearby.</p><p>Ahsoka took a breath, and smiled —</p><p>And Maul could only stare at her.</p><p>“I come here to meditate,” he said, watching her carefully, taking her wine glass and setting it on a low stone bench nearby. “It helps me manage my day to day frustrations to sit in the quiet. It helps me focus my purpose when the tumult —“ He tapped his temple. “Becomes too great.”</p><p>Here was a man of contradictions, she thought.</p><p>“Do you have a lot of those?” she asked. “Frustrations?”</p><p>He watched her mouth.</p><p>“I feel that I am learning better means of negotiating it.”</p><p>He dipped towards her, their hands sliding together, interlocking their fingers. When he pressed a kiss to her upper lip, it was tentative at first — gentle in a way that left her surprised and shy. His fingers splayed at her lower back, dragging up the hem of her teeshirt, seeking skin, and she sighed into the warmth of his touch. He cupped her cheek, his fingers sliding to the back of her neck, and parted her lips, deepening the kiss.</p><p>He drew back at her sigh, cradling her. They’d turned partially, and over Maul’s shoulder, Ahsoka saw it for the first time:</p><p>The black gate.</p><p>A little sign had been affixed to the bars — so out of place amidst all the sleek technology that she thought for a moment she was misreading the warning beneath the skull and crossbones.</p><p>Maul followed her gaze. “That is also my garden,” he said. “It’s blackest heart.”</p><p>Ahsoka withdrew from him, taking a step towards it, and seeing flowers beyond — shrubs and hedges and neatly separated plants, so different than the tangle of life that surrounded her.</p><p>The sign read: “These plants can kill.”</p><p>Nearing the gate, she looked down at the first marker that was close enough to read. It was planted in the earth beside a low bush with purple blooms, six petals a-piece, shiny and piqued with a blue the colour of the night sky at the heart. Black berries grew shiny and round from the stalks: <em>Atropa Belladonna</em>.</p><p>“It’s beautiful,” she said.</p><p>“What may be beautiful may also be deadly, and what you do not suspect might also be your doom,” he said. “Look closer.”</p><p>Beyond it, <em>Digitalis</em>. And farther still, a flat-leaved bush that appeared vaguely familiar.</p><p>“Bay Laurel?”</p><p>“Cherry Laurel, as a matter of fact. <em>Prunus laurocerasus</em> — a species that will induce respiratory trauma if inhaled.”</p><p>She let go of the gate — unaware that she’d been gripping it to get a better look inside.</p><p>“Poison.”</p><p>He bowed his head. “It began as a medical interest, originally — I craved a better understanding of those plants that could heal, but also harm, and their history. These plants are some of the earliest roots of modern medicine.”</p><p>At her look he explained, “<em>Digitalis</em> — Foxglove — can be used to treat heart conditions, but too much of it will slow your heart rate to the point of failure.” He pointed out another. “Soporific sponges soaked in henbane, opium and hemlock were used to anesthetize amputees during 15th-century surgeries.” He frowned. “Then again, Hemlock was administered to Socrates in ancient Greece.”</p><p>“It killed him,” she said.</p><p>“Yes. It was regularly given to prisoners. A certain death sentence.”</p><p>“Heal and harm,” she echoed.</p><p>He pursed his lips. “It became something of an obsession once I began collecting. Some of the specimens here are a fright to obtain.” He eyed her, watching her reaction. “The coca plant in particular, not to mention the cannabis. Took six months of paperwork, each, and I still had to call in favours.”</p><p>She blinked. “Do you… have a practical application for these things?” she asked.</p><p>His eyes lidded, a slow smile spreading. “Are you asking if I indulge, or if I’ve killed anyone recently?”</p><p>Goosebumps rose on her arms at his smile, a shivery, fight or flight response that made her altogether too aware of his proximity. A faint echo of Ezra’s earlier speculation broke away from her saner, more reasonable logic: it rattled around, untethered, leaving Ahsoka contemplating Maul’s various connections and funding measures to float such an endeavour without any practical, scientific application.</p><p>He kept a poison garden because he <em>liked</em> it.</p><p>Drawing a step closer, Maul murmured, “Do you see the shrub with the little white flowers? Just there?” She stilled, his hand settling at her hip. “They appear as if they are falling towards the earth, their blooms too heavy for their stems.”</p><p>He thumb stroked the skin at her waistband, leaving her shivering. Lips grazing the shell of her ear, he murmured, “<em>Brugmansia</em>. Angel's trumpet. It grows in wild in South America.”</p><p>His hand smoothed across her stomach, thumb dipping into her bellybutton, pulling her against him, the wine and the narcotic feel of his touch lulling her.</p><p>"Victorian ladies would often keep a flower from the plant on their card tables, adding small amounts of its pollen to their tea to produce hallucinations,” he said lightly. “Similar to LSD.”</p><p>He pressed his lips to her neck, his fingertips brushing lower, grazing her sex through the fabric of her sweatpants. Her insides clenched at the contact, warmth spreading low and steady.</p><p>“It's an incredible aphrodisiac,” he said. “The best poisons are. When you succumb to them, they never hurt at all.”</p><p>Turning her head into his throat, she hmmed. He dragged a hand up her ribs, looping an arm around his neck, leaving her shivering.</p><p>“You <em>are</em> dramatic, aren’t you?” she said.</p><p>“I prefer the sweet edged with a little strychnine,” he murmured into her hair. “A little pain with my pleasure. A little danger to make the blood run hot.”</p><p>He stroked her stomach, her hips, his teeth at the back of her neck — and then he softened, turning serious.</p><p>“Never venture past the gate, Ahsoka,” said Maul, his fingers brushing the edge of her breast. “Never touch, never smell the plants behind it. Some are narcotic, some will leave you simply intoxicated, but most can dispatch you with hardly anything at all. Not all have antidotes.”</p><p>He turned her towards him, and sobering, she looked up into his face to find concern etching lines into his forehead.</p><p>“And to think you were trying to use mortal terror to seduce me.”</p><p>He didn’t smile.</p><p>She searched his gaze, finding some hesitation there that hadn’t been before.</p><p>“Promise me,” he said.</p><p>A small frown tugged at her mouth, his concern settling heavy on her. He cared for her, she realized — the thought approached her at a distance, as if creeping up on her to scare her into self-preservation. Her heart beat a little faster, but his expression didn’t change.</p><p>“Ahsoka,” he said.</p><p>She drew back from him. “Am I to come back here, then?”</p><p>Something softened in his gaze, his frown deepening. “Wasn’t that obvious?”</p><p>She pushed him back from the gate, her feet skittering to a dash as she closed the distance between them. He lifted her, walking back few feet with her toes dragging along the path after them until she was airborne, her mouth on his. She smiled into his kiss.</p><p>“Try not to get yourself killed, Tano,” he muttered. “Paul would never forgive me.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The poison garden featured in Maul’s greenhouse is loosely based on the Alnwick Poison Garden — home to a hundred species of plants that are best described as “toxic, intoxicating, and narcotic.” While visitors are prohibited from touching or smelling the species contained in the Northumberland garden, some still occasionally faint from breathing in the fumes. Further inspiration to the setting has been drawn from the Medici Poison Gardens.</p><p>It's taken seven chapters to finally barf out the theme of this story (oops.) If you picked it up, hold on to it tightly. It should shape any suspicions in the updates to come. </p><p>&lt;3 october</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Nightshade</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Some surprises. Some accommodations. A revelation. A warning sign ignored. Better uses for silk ties.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>CW: We’re touching a little bit of mental illness in this chapter, please advise.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Their last stop on the tour felt like an inevitability — one littered with clothing on the way as he followed her through the maze of his quarters back to his bedroom. She’d shed her teeshirt to taunt him with a flash of red lace, the lingerie at odds with her attire.</p><p>“I was at a friend’s place when you texted,” she said in the doorway, beckoning him forward as she hooked her thumbs into the waist of her sweatpants, sliding them off her hips. A small smile stopped him dead in the doorway — mischief lighting her features. “I borrowed her clothes so I wouldn’t have to sit around all night in work attire.”</p><p>“You prefer comfort.”</p><p>“I prefer knowing when to stop,” she said. “When to turn off my work brain.”</p><p>“That’s challenging for you, I gather.”</p><p>Arching an eyebrow, she gave him a coy, over-the-shoulder smile. “A clear demarcation between work and play is often helpful in establishing boundaries. I love my job,” she said. “It’s easy, sometimes, to love it a little too much.”</p><p>“The road to hell is paved with obsession and abandon.”</p><p>She smirked. “Oh, good. We understand each other.”</p><p>His gaze traced her curves, appreciative of the lines carved by lean muscle; a combination of strength and flexibility often found in dancers, but sharpened by something perhaps a little more martial: hard work.</p><p>“If the little trick you pulled with my phone this morning is any indicator of your extracurricular preoccupations —”</p><p>She turned, her lips parting in surprise, those blue eyes wide but not at all innocent.</p><p>“Oh, you’re not at all in trouble for knowing how to break my encryptions. I suspected you had an aptitude for —” He trailed off. “Your talents are rather unique, Ms. Tano. I’d be remiss to admit that your particular skill set was of intrigue to me, even before we’d met.”</p><p>Face heating, she smiled a little, softening.</p><p>The pale striped markings on her dark skin gave him pause, and taking note, she ran her fingers over the traceries of paler skin at her sides and tops of her thighs.</p><p>“Vitiligo,” she explained, twisting and lifting her hair. “You didn’t notice?” she asked over her shoulder. Her bum peeked from red lace panties that crested above each cheek in a little arc — luscious. “I cover up the marks on my face with makeup, but my body —” She trailed off.</p><p>“I was rather preoccupied at the time,” he said. “Also, rather intoxicated.”</p><p>Ahsoka tilted her head. “Flatterer.”</p><p>He smirked. “I meant in the literal, but yes, my Lady — you do have that effect on me.”</p><p>She eased to the edge of his mattress, sliding hands over his duvet and patting the spot next to her. “I don’t know if I believe you,” she said. “If what you say is true, then why are you standing all the way over there?”</p><p>He pulled at his tie, loosing the knot of silk, and undoing it so that it hung around his neck: a portent.</p><p>“I thought I ought to savour the moment,” he murmured, taking her in. “It seems a shame to tear those delicates from you.”</p><p>Her expression darkened, and exhaling a little breath, he took in the way she seemed to ease back a little — her nipples pebbling under the fabric. Lovely.</p><p>“Would you like me to take them off?”</p><p>He moved, stalking around to the foot of the bed, unbuttoning his shirt as he did. “If you wish to preserve them.”</p><p>He tossed the tie to the bed beside her, the shirt on the armchair in the corner, smirking as she watched him with that hungry expression — irises darkened, mouth plump.</p><p>“Do not make me tell you twice, Ahsoka.”</p><p>Sucking in a little breath, she eased a shoulder out from under a bra strap, and then the other.That small expanse of flesh revealing the dips of her collarbones stirred him, her breasts pressed together but briefly as she undid the clasp, letting the fabric fall.</p><p>“Magnificent,” he said. She shivered — a little frisson accompanied by a blush. She turned away, her face heating at his attention.</p><p>He reached for her in two strides, taking her chin in hand and tilting her face up to look at him.</p><p>“You need never be shy with me,” he caressed her cheek. “You are a sliver of the divine — a goddess deserving of every manner of worship.” He pressed the pad of his thumb to her lower lip, drawing it down a little to feel the moisture of her mouth. “Demand of me oblivion and I shall deliver you to heaven.”</p><p>Her tongue darted out, tasting his finger. Something flit in her gaze — some wicked game there that she invited him to.</p><p>Maul paused, his body lighting with awareness.</p><p>“Perhaps I am wrong,” he offered.</p><p>She smirked into his palm. “Maybe I’m no angel.”</p><p>She rose, her hands too deft, and in his surprise, she’d turned him, unfastening his trousers and undoing the zipper.</p><p>“Ahsoka, wait —“ he started, but the garment had fallen to the floor.</p><p>Maul closed his eyes, her hands lingering at his hips a moment. If he flinched, it was chased with the momentary terror that not all secrets should be revealed with such abruptness.</p><p>She frowned up at him, and resigned, he took her hands.</p><p>“Dear heart,” he said. He sighed, and pressed her back to arm’s length.</p><p>He looked down at himself, and though she hesitated, her gaze followed.</p><p>“I wished that I might have revealed this in a little more time.” He sighed.</p><p>Her mouth opened in a little “o” of surprise, and blinking up at him, she said, astonished, “I didn’t know.”</p><p>From the knees down, his prosthetics gleamed in the low light: a marvel of engineering and cybernetics. They connected to his thighs in a seamless network of filament and steel and silicone —</p><p>He heaved a breath. “I am state of the art,” he muttered. “Forgive me for the deception.”</p><p>She shook her head. “But the way you move, is so —“ Looking up at him, she searched his face. “Do they hurt?”</p><p>What a curious creature, he thought, tipping his head to regard her with confusion, and a little surprise. “Not often. I expect miracles of my engineers, and while they might not regrow my limbs for me — they’ve provided the next best thing.”</p><p>She wasn’t repulsed. She wasn’t afraid.</p><p>“When we were together on Friday night,” she began. Ahsoka frowned, her gaze rising to his thighs. She looked up at him, eyebrows raised. “Either I was really messed up, or you’re so good in bed that it didn’t even occur to me that you hadn’t taken off your pants.”</p><p>He considered her, weighing it, and nodded his concession. “Well —“</p><p>In response, she cupped his manhood. Neither squeezing, nor stroking — she merely held him in the palm of her hand, the warmth of her fingers easing through the cotton of his boxer briefs.</p><p>A smug smile graced his face. “That, my dear, is one hundred percent natural,” he assured her.</p><p>A smile flashed. “Just checking.”</p><p>He exhaled, easing his hands up her arms, drawing her closer. Pursing his lips, he groaned inwardly at the way she stroked him with her thumb — testing to see if he’d rise to the occasion, no doubt.</p><p>“My Lady,” he chastised. “You didn’t finish.”</p><p>That naughty little flash of her teeth again.</p><p>“I’m just getting started.”</p><p>He hummed, drawing her to him, hooking his thumbs into the sides of her panties, and shed them to the floor in a swipe.</p><p>Before he could proceed, she’d found some initiative — ridding him of his own restrictions in a similar move that had him growling in warning.</p><p>“You’ve not asked permission to divest me,” he warned.</p><p>Pressing him back to the bed so that his calves struck the mattress, and he sank down into a seat before her.</p><p>She knelt, naked, her hands on his thighs, and pressed a light kiss to his knee, her gaze meeting his. It stirred something in him, to see her supplicating herself, but a guiding hand must sometimes be sterner, he considered. She was attempting too many liberties at once.</p><p>Her fingers trailed from flesh to machine, and though he couldn’t feel her touch beneath his knees, he pulled in a breath.</p><p>“Maul,” she began. He stiffened, his cock stirring.</p><p>Ahsoka licked her lips.</p><p>“My Lord,” she began again, a precious quaver in her voice. Was she nervous?</p><p>She spread her knees a little, the bloom of her arousal as sweet as nectar. He shut his eyes but briefly with a sigh as she touched his thighs — as gentle as a butterfly in her hesitation.</p><p>“My Lord, may I suck your cock?”</p><p>Oh, buggering hell, Maul thought.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>If Ahsoka had miscalculated, finding herself tossed across Maul’s lap with her ass in the air, her surprise was about as belated as the sting of his hand clapping sharply against each check — once, twice.</p><p>In shock, she barked a shout, her flesh heating under his fingers as he cupped her, soothing the sting.</p><p>“Once for coming in the elevator,” he informed her. “Once for your impertinence just now.”</p><p>Her skin prickled, and squirming, he held her in place by the small of her back — his other hand trailed across her exposed lips, his thumb parting her folds, finding her already wet.</p><p>“Hm,” he remarked, as if noting the weather.</p><p>“That <em>hurt</em>.”</p><p>“Did it?” Too innocent.</p><p>She twisted, trying to scowl at him — a feat made increasingly difficult by the way his fingers slipped her into warmth, easing deeper against her, her legs parting for him as he stroked, and soothed, and diverted her attention from her sparking flesh by easing two fingers inside her to the knuckle, and then withdrawing slowly.</p><p>“Does the sting of it fade?” He asked, stroking he curve of her spine, pressing back into her with his fingers slicked, massaging. “I can feel your cunt tightening on my fingers, dear. Tell me honestly: do you better understand my position, now?”</p><p>She wanted him deeper. His cocked bobbed against her midsection, erect and alert, and if he’d only just let her — she could endeavour to show him just how much better she understood him.</p><p>Maul rested his thumb against the cleft of her ass, the sensation a surprise, though not intrusive. He squeezed, drawing upwards, and she let out a shaking breath as his fingers grazed that spot inside her that ached pleasantly at his ministrations.</p><p>She grit her teeth, trying to focus. “Maul — stop.”</p><p>Her insides throbbed, needy, wanting more — it was an effort to not push back into his fingers as he withdrew. She whimpered, folding her head to the bed before pushing herself to knees.</p><p>He held his hands before him, palms up, as if he were a criminal caught in the act. There was no hesitation. He just — ceased.</p><p>He didn’t reach for her or try to cajole, he only waited for her next move.</p><p>She exhaled a breath, pulling him with her as she scooted up the bed. Her flesh of her ass throbbed lightly, but it wasn’t pain, per se —</p><p>Just the shock of it.</p><p>“I hurt you,” he said. “Genuinely.”</p><p>“No,” she said. She tried to parse it, and blew out a breath. He waited, still guilty.</p><p>Ahsoka couldn’t look at him, so instead, she pulled back the sheets and climbed over them. “Well, yes, but trust me I can take a lot more than a smack on the behind.”</p><p>True, genuine fear flit over his gaze. “Forgive me,” he said, crestfallen. “Too much enthusiasm for the role I wished to play, perhaps.”</p><p>She tugged at his arm. When he refused to budge, she agreed, “The important part is that you stopped.”</p><p>“Forgive me,” he said again, folding into himself.</p><p>A beat. Something started ticking in her mind and her body — like a countdown to something she was supposed to take note of, but had missed in the process of getting caught up.</p><p>He wouldn’t look at her.</p><p>She pulled at his hand. “Come here. Please.”</p><p>“Never forget that I am filth,” he said so quietly she thought misheard.</p><p>“Maul?”</p><p>When he turned back at her, his gaze was clouded by something indefinite at the edges: a despair so profound that it changed the entire countenance of his face.</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>It was as if he’d gone somewhere else — someplace deep within; as if he’d forgotten she was there.</p><p>Her heart thrummed a little quicker, confusion edging out the shadows.</p><p>He tipped his face left, and those sad eyes met hers once more: clear and golden and ashamed.</p><p>“There’s nothing wrong with what you did,” she said, holding out her hand to him. “We just haven’t discussed parameters. Or limits. Or —“</p><p>She closed her mouth, her face heating. Her heart pounded for reasons she couldn’t put her finger on, other than the slight creep of concern, chased quickly by her embarrassment.</p><p>In a smaller voice, she managed, “No one’s ever done that to me before.”</p><p>He sobered, and like a curtain lifting, Maul returned fully.</p><p>Brow furrowed, he reached back, fingers curling beneath hers. He moved, easing to her side — a wall of muscle, his strength and heat enfolding her, even though he made no move to touch her beyond the chaste grip on her fingers. He didn’t let go as he dragged the sheet over both their legs.</p><p>“I do not want to be cruel with you,” he murmured.</p><p>She frowned. Where was that coming from? “You weren’t —“</p><p>“I am a villain and a fiend, Ms. Tano. For that I truly am sorry.”</p><p>Tipping his face to hers, she searched his features, finding a weight sinking somewhere at a place she couldn’t guess at. Ahsoka cupped his cheek, soothing out the lines of strain beneath his eyes.</p><p>“Hey, Christian Grey — I’m not signing any sex contracts with you tonight,” she said, trying for levity.</p><p>He didn’t laugh.</p><p>“You must believe me,” he said, “I would endeavour not to cause you pain beyond the boundaries of our play.”</p><p>Kneeling, she positioned herself to take his face in her hands, sliding a little over his thigh and in-between his legs. She felt his fingertips graze her shoulderblades as she drew him to her, placing a lingering, light kiss at the corner of his mouth.</p><p>“Then we determine those boundaries,” she said. “Together.”</p><p>“I made you uncomfortable.”</p><p>Her eyes narrowed a fraction. “And you turned me on.”</p><p>Confused, he looked at her. She raised her eyebrows, willing him to better understand.</p><p>Maul appeared to wilt a little.</p><p>“It turned you —“</p><p>She nodded.</p><p>“It scared me. I do not —” She weighed her words. “I’ve never been in a position where I’ve been subjugated. Like that.”</p><p>The press of his hands through the sheet warmed her, and she nestled closer, hands trailing down his chest — one went the way of his thigh, poking from the covers, the other settled against his stomach where it rose and fell with his breathing.</p><p>“I’m not used to… that,” she said, wrestling with the vulnerability the confession inspired. “I’ve never been —”</p><p>“Corrected,” he supplied.</p><p>She chewed her lip, and after some contemplation, placed a kiss to his jaw. Another to his cheek.</p><p>“Corrected,” she agreed.</p><p>He searched her face. “And the parameters of your previous experience —”</p><p>She took a shuddery breath and met his stare, collecting what courage she had on the matter.</p><p>“Less fulfilling than this.”</p><p>He considered her, his thumb running a slow circle at her back.</p><p>Carefully, he asked, “Does it frighten you that you enjoyed it?”</p><p>Her gaze lingered on his mouth a moment longer.</p><p>Quietly, she said, “Yes.”</p><p>Maul closed his eyes for a shivering moment, releasing a breath. His smile was fleeting, but he turned into her to accept the press of her mouth against his. Tender. Quiet. Tremulous.</p><p>“Understand me well, dear heart — what I ask of you is never a surrender who you truly are, merely the construct of your control.” He drew back, searching her face. “We’ve not had enough time together to know one another’s capacities, but I know this: you are powerful, and so bright.” He looked her over, his thumbs rubbing her shoulders. “I will never undermine these qualities in you by asking you to cede them.”</p><p>She pressed a hand to his chest, finding his heart beat.</p><p>“But here — my Lady?” He gestured around them. “Here, there is no hindrance. Here, I would have you surrender your body to me; to know true abandon. I would wish you on your hands and knees, I would bid you kneel, I would bind your hands, I would have you worshipped. Slowly. Carefully. Roughly, if you preferred it. I would have you spent from pleasure by my hands and my mouth and my cock. I would have you in every way and I you if you only wished it, whatever your desire, however you craved it.” He pressed his forehead to hers, drawing her into his arms. “May I, though I am unworthy to the task of your pleasure? May I, though I am little better than a depraved wretch. A fiend. Give me —“ He breathed. “Everything. But please, my Lady Tano: know that I would only, <em>ever </em>claim it<em>, </em>if it pleased you.”</p><p>“Everything,” she repeated.</p><p>He licked his lips. Kissed her. “Your mouth. Your hands. Your cunt. Your arse. You heart — your desire, my Lady. Your earlobes.” He rolled his eyes, hands sliding down her thighs, caressing every part of her that he could reach. He kissed her neck, her collarbone, ran his fingers along her spine. She shivered, warmth puddling on the sheets between them. “Your breasts,” he said, kissing them each, with a tenderness. “Your brilliant mind.”</p><p>She folded him to her, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, kissing his face. He squeezed her thighs, her bum, notching her closer so she could feel the stirrings of his desire for her against the underside of her thigh.</p><p>He appeared miserable.</p><p>“If you wished to beat me because it suited you better, then —“ he shrugged.</p><p>“I like how you are, Maul,” she said quietly. “If you could see it for yourself, you’d understand that there’s always a choice in deciding who you’re meant to become. That version of yourself tomorrow, is determined by the decisions you’ve made today.” Her lips pressed to his cheek. “You made the right choices today. Thank you.”</p><p>He shut his eyes, tightening his arms around her.</p><p>“And I love what you do to me.”</p><p>He snuffed a breath, buying his face into her chest.</p><p>“Good,” he rumbled. It was barely more than a muffled grunt. “Whatever my Lady desires — nothing is taboo. She need only ask.”</p><p>“I just want to clarify one thing,” she said. He pulled back to look up at her. She cupped his cheek. “Are you asking me if I’d let you fuck my ass?”</p><p>Blinking up at her, he raised an eyebrow. “Would you like me to?”</p><p>She swatted at him.</p><p>He stared.</p><p>“<em>Maul!</em>”</p><p>“I’d do as you asked, you know.” He frowned. “Maybe just a little —” He make a small, pokey-pokey gesture with his finger.</p><p>Raising herself, she straddled him, easing into his lap, the sheets in a tangle around their legs. He drew her forward, lifting her two-handed to notch against him. Hard and ready, he slid against her folds, but she froze —</p><p>She bared her teeth, and he smoothed his hands around her bottom.</p><p>“Still tender,” she warned, lifting herself, his cock brushing against her.</p><p>He appeared momentarily confused.</p><p>“Is this okay?” she asked.</p><p>“What are you doing?” Genuine bafflement on his face — she smiled.</p><p>“I’d like to make love to you.” She pressed her mouth to his, her tongue easing between his lips, smoothing away his tensions with a lingering kiss. She drew back. “May I?”</p><p>“Please,” he breathed.</p><p>She eased down an inch, Maul’s eyes shutting in too-long blink of pleasure. He let out a breath.</p><p>“Please, my Lady,” she whispered against his mouth, and he groaned as she sank down his length, pressing her breasts to his throat, her arms wrapping his shoulders — fingers razing the back of his scalp.</p><p>“Thank you, my Lady,” he said into her throat, and she chuckled.</p><p>When Ahsoka began to move against him, her eyes fluttered shut. Maul’s hands eased up her back, guiding her thrusts.</p><p>“Oh, I could learn to appreciate this,” he said, laving at her clavicle, the softest part of her throat.</p><p>She rolled her hips, bringing him deeper.</p><p>“Touch me, Maul,” she whispered into his ear. “Kiss me.”</p><p>He captured a nipple with his teeth, soothing it at her hiss. Palming it, he pulled the other to his mouth.</p><p>She rode him with short, shallow thrusts interspersed with long circles of her hips, winding them tighter together. Holding her back from him, he peered between their bodies, watching her ride him — the point of their connection fascinating.</p><p>His noise of appreciation left her quaking, clutching at his neck, his cock — she whimpered.</p><p>Maul held her by the hip, his arm wrapped around her waist, his fingers easing between them to snap a thumb against her clit. She bucked into it with a sigh, and he did it again — smiling this time.</p><p>“Yes?” he asked.</p><p>Her thighs quivered with the effort, and he chuckled, rubbing in rough circles.</p><p>She leaned into his ear, taking his earlobe between her teeth, and bit down gently.</p><p>Not ready to come just yet, she hesitated.</p><p>He noted the change in her breath, and turning that golden gaze onto hers, he breathed, “Tell me.”</p><p>She wanted more. More of the feeling him hard and steady inside her, more of his hands and nails and teeth on her skin — more of his mouth, his tongue leaving her shivering, grinding into his hand, and Maul — so encouraging — easing her along in steady shifts and sighs and thrusts.</p><p>“Would — would you tie me up?” she whispered.</p><p>He pulled back enough to halt her movements, searching her face to see if she meant it.</p><p>“Truly.”</p><p>“Will it hurt?” she asked, a little breathy.</p><p>Shaking his head, he frowned a little, half-smiling. “No,” he laughed, and drove his hips up to meet hers.</p><p>She sucked in a breath, gripping his shoulders to balance herself,but he’d grasped his tie.</p><p>“Stay like that,” he said, looking at where they were joined as he drew her wrists behind her, one at a time. He kissed her chest — her throat, while looping silk in a short figure eight, seizing her hand together and notching them so that her shoulders strained — but not impossibly. She could move, she could even dislodge her hands from where he’d bound them if she really tried.</p><p>“Comfortable?” he asked, circling her waist with an arm.</p><p>She swallowed, testing her balance. “What if I fall?”</p><p>He brushed a hand over her braid, pulling her down to capture her mouth.</p><p>“I’ll never let you,” he said in a rush against her lips.</p><p>Maul drew her against him, and using the bed for leverage, thrust upwards, rocking her hips against his — grinding her against him as he drove her higher.</p><p>Gasping, Ahsoka felt her knees leave the mattress. Maul grinned against her mouth, pulling her against him, gravity connecting them as he found his rhythm, and clutching his body with her thighs, her cunt —</p><p>Something between them snapped taut and hard, a pulse that beat back with straining muscles. He held her firm, guiding her movements by her hips, holding her close as she rode him.</p><p>They fell back, and Maul struck at her clit with his thumb, his movements unceasing as he urged her onward.</p><p>“Find it,” he breathed. “<em>Yes</em>.”</p><p>That feeling — coiling ever closer, winding her taut around him — still just out of reach.</p><p>She slit her eyes open at him, baring her teeth.</p><p>He rose up, grinding her clit between them, setting her rhythm in jerks against him.</p><p>“Fuck,” she managed, but he swallowed the sound with his mouth.</p><p>“Tell me, my Lady.” His fingers found the back of her neck, snaking into her hair and gripping her at the roots. No pain, just direction, she realized. Maul licked a line up her throat, and Ahsoka gasped at the ripple of shivers that erupted from the point of contact.</p><p>“Tell me what you desire,” he breathed.</p><p>She hesitated only a second, and in a half-sob, she told him in a rush.</p><p>It was almost a whimper — a collision of sounds, but he slipped from her as she cried out — nearly a sob, changing their trajectory with ease as he turned her body over, pressing her face into the mattress, her bound hands in his grip.</p><p>She moaned as he sheathed himself inside her once more, the sensation of being too full, too perfect, too tight a pleasure —</p><p>Maul eased her legs father apart, leaning over her he hissed into her ear as their skin slapped together. “Say it again so I might hear you better.”</p><p>“Spank me,” she sobbed, her teeth grit in anticipation. “Please —“</p><p>“Please, who?”</p><p>“Please daddy,” she keened, her world becoming further untethered as the string between them pulled taut — ready to break. “Please, my Lord --“</p><p>“Fuck,” he swore, the clap of his hand sudden and biting against her already tender flesh.</p><p>The mattress ate her howl, her body jerking into awareness as Ahsoka’s world broke and her body shattered beneath his. Pleasure bloomed fast and hard, a tumult overtaking her as her legs jerked and she shuddered into bliss. Again. And again.</p><p>He cracked a hand against her once more, and he tumbled after her —</p><p>Maul’s release answered hers, spilling over her as he drew her close, one hand holding her in place, the other seeking her over-sensitized bud and rubbing it —</p><p>She cried out, a second wave catching her unexpected, and she fell forward, Maul still inside her, his hips jerking in quick movements that knocked her into his hand.</p><p>“So beautiful,” she heard him say into her neck, and though he slipped from her, he massaged and soothed and rubbed at her clit, unwilling to let it end.</p><p>“Again, my Lady,” he ordered. “Once more for me.”</p><p>She wasn’t certain she had it in her, but he drew her backwards with two fingers — such a simple gesture — and her third orgasm took her, breaking over her in a wash that undulated and stretched, easing her into pliancy, her body spent utterly as she keened his name.</p><p>He loosed the knot, pulling away the tie from her hands, though even unbound, Ahsoka founddidn’t have the energy to move. Maul helped her, drawing her into his arms, unfolding her wrists and rubbing at them, lauding her, peppering her wrists with kisses. Both of them breathing hard.</p><p>“Good girl,” he murmured into her skin, and eyes fluttering shut with a sigh, Ahsoka reached for him too.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>In other news: do you recall the bucket I mentioned in the very first chapter’s notes? *picks up the bucket to show it off* *meanders to the cliff’s edge* *sets the bucket down perhaps a little too close* See you next week.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Hemlock</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A phone call in the early hours. A breakfast meeting. The application. A conversation among friends. Confessions.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This has been one of my favourite chapters so far. Partially for the smut, partially for the revelations contained herein, partially because when Maul starts talking, I just want to let him go off. Sultry motherfucker.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Another grey morning, but in the distance, the sun threatened between heavy clouds.</p><p>Six a.m. and Maul stood on the gallery, sweat sticking his shirt to his back. His muscles burned, his body ached from his katas, but his soul relished the quiet of the night spent as a cushion for the sleeping woman still in his bed.</p><p>He sipped his tea, looking out on his city, and arranged the myriad of possibilities for the day, knowing as his cellular vibrated at precisely six oh three, he’d need to delegate at least some of it.</p><p>He answered without looking at the number. “Yes?”</p><p>On the other end of the line, Qi’ra took a breath, “The shipment is secured.”</p><p>“Good news, then,” he murmured. “Beckett verified?”</p><p>“He has, my Lord.”</p><p>“And you’ll be executing the transfer.”</p><p>“Imminently.”</p><p>She knew where the money would go — they’d worked closely enough in recent months that he needn’t offer instruction. Qi’ra, he often thought, made for a more efficient contact nine times out of ten: where Dryden had postured and prostrated himself, she cut to the quick.</p><p>“Good. Do not exercise the usual channels, this time — a little further discretion, perhaps?”</p><p>Though she didn’t hesitate, Maul was aware of the challenge it presented. He trusted his lieutenants’ competency — they were his hands, executing his will. Moreover, they did not ask questions about his methods.</p><p>“Sir.”</p><p>She hung up.</p><p>With any luck, Sidious’ attempts at sussing out his extracurriculars would turn up cold, but the devil did not rest — and that was a fact made apparent by the meeting invitation he received almost immediately after setting down his phone.</p><p>The notification glared at him from the screen. He swiped it away without accepting the eleven o’clock time slot. Impromptu video call with the Board.</p><p>He glanced through the glass walls of his bedroom, dark and still beyond: Ahsoka slumbering peacefully yet.</p><p>The texts he sent to Hux and Ventress as he stalked to his dojo were brief: save for the request to hold an hour of his morning, he cleared his schedule for the day. Hers too. Other matters took precedence, he decided.</p><p>For the time being, Maul weighed the spike or irritation he felt at having his relative tranquility upset by Sidious’ intervention, the quiet of his early morning routine sacrosanct. The man wielded too much power; forcing him, at a moment’s notice, to accommodate his whims.</p><p>Soon, he thought — soon he’d not be troubled much longer.</p><p>Soon he’d not answer to anyone, and so liberated, Maul might see the world changed according to his designs. It had been the mere spark of an idea, set alight in the early hours by the woman in his bed. He kindled it, lying awake a time by her side, contemplating the various facets of a future that might crystallize with the right sort of care.</p><p>All the choices they’d made in life had brought them to the intersection they’d found themselves at, their paths crossed as if kismet. There could be no chance in this union — it appeared to perfect from the outset, it felt… too right.</p><p>By surprise or not, they’d found themselves together. What remained was the prospect of what tomorrow might bring.</p><p>He buried his concerns, wondering if her edict would hold: would he continue making the correct choices, and would she be there to witness it.</p><p>He hoped so.</p><p>He burned for it.</p><p>In the meantime, Maul pushed through the door, kicking his staff into his hands with a sharp slap that echoed through the dojo.</p><p>He bided his time. He trained. He redoubled his efforts.</p><p>He siphoned his anger as if decanting it, summoning his reserves to sharpen himself.</p><p>There would be time to lose himself to his passions, but now — he prepared as if he were a warrior readying himself for battle.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>Her first thought upon waking was that Maul snored. Her second, was that his morning breath was atrocious — a rank cloud that puffed into her face, smelling strangely of… kibble?</p><p>Ahsoka peeked open an eye, finding the companion on the pillow beside her a whiskered surprise.</p><p>Paul’s tongue snuck out, lapping at her nose, and she started —</p><p>He licked his chops, his tail slapping the sheet at being discovered, and panted at her, his protuberant eyes coy with doggy-like mirth.</p><p>“You’re not who I expected,” she said, voice gravelly, and scratched behind his ear.</p><p>The bed was empty, but the scent of frying bacon roused her fully.</p><p>A clear pitcher of water and a glass, along with a bottle of Advil awaited her on the bedside table. She sat up, forgoing the painkillers, but pouring herself a glass and drinking deeply. A toothbrush still in its packaging was just beyond it, and she escaped into the ensuite, appreciative of Maul’s consideration.</p><p>When Ahsoka returned, she stood in the doorway a moment, absent her clothing, and drew Maul’s shirt from the night before from a nearby chair to dress herself as she padded through the living room towards that heavenly scent.</p><p>He looked up from where he worked at the stove, his expression riveted as he pushed steaming cheese eggs onto a plate already heaped with fresh fruit. Four slices of whole grain toast popped in the toaster nearby.</p><p>A feast.</p><p>Paul padded to her side, his tongue lolling.</p><p>Maul glanced up, taking in her state of relative undress in a sweep that left her toes curling.</p><p>“Hi,” she said.</p><p>A slow smile changed his expression. She doubted the hungry look he gave her bare legs had anything to do with the turkey bacon he set on the counter.</p><p>“Good morning.”</p><p>The way he purred felt like an invitation and appreciation in one breath, and she padded around the counter, the weight of his gaze trailing her.</p><p>“That shirt suits you,” he murmured. She shivered at his proximity.</p><p>“Coffee?” she asked, finding he’d tossed a towel over his shoulder, and freeing his hands as he joined her at the pot. His fingers at her hip were the barest brush, the hard press of him against her back as he opened a cabinet over her head pressing her into the counter as he collected two cups.</p><p>He set them down before her, his palm spreading across her stomach and through the buttons.</p><p>When Maul growled into her neck, she eased back into him with a hum of her own.</p><p>He smelled of sweat and musk, a damp heat clinging to him — as if he’d been working out and she’d missed the spectacle.</p><p>“I made breakfast,” he murmured, and damn if Ahsoka didn’t find that to be the sexiest statement of all.</p><p>She chuckled. “I’m ravenous.”</p><p>“Good,” he said, pressing a lingering kiss to her cheek. “Eat up. You’ll need your strength today.”</p><p>“Oh?” She turned, a question half-formed —</p><p>He slipped from her, using the towel to swat at her behind.</p><p>With a jerk of his head, he poured two cups for them as Ahsoka claimed a bar seat before him at the island.</p><p>“I’ve taken a liberty that I’ll hope you’ll forgive me for,” he said, tucking into his own plate. He offered her the bacon like it might placate her.</p><p>With eyes narrowing, she accepted three slices before he set down the plate.</p><p>He said lightly. “You’ll be at an offsite with the CEO of the company.”</p><p>He set a napkin over her knees.</p><p>“An offsite,” she repeated.</p><p>He raised his eyebrows, not looking at her. “Mmhmm. Onboarding.” He waved his fork. “Orientation. Something like that.”</p><p>Pursing her lips at him, she asked, “What kind of orientation?”</p><p>The smile that sped across his features was reserved for card sharks and mob bosses, she thought: laced through with only the most wicked of intentions.</p><p>“Face down,” he said. “Arse up.”</p><p>Lips parting in surprise, she choked. Then laughed.</p><p>He grinned as he chewed his toast — a megawatt smile that changed his entire demeanour.</p><p>Ahsoka stole another two slices, nibbling on one. He passed her a fork.</p><p>“You know I actually have work to do,” she said. “My team needs me.”</p><p>He waved it off. “You can use my system. Whatever you need. Address them remotely to see that they’re settled and delegate the rest.” He nudged a coffee towards her, which she accepted without the offers for cream or sugar. His hand found her knee, giving her a squeeze. “Say you’ll stay. I <em>do</em> have some prospects that I’d like to go over with our new CTO,” he said. “Something to blue sky, while we have the opportunity.”</p><p>Something told her whatever work thing Maul had planned, it wouldn’t eat up the whole day.</p><p>“I don’t have clothing,” she protested.</p><p>He eyed her as if she wouldn’t need anything of the sort.</p><p>“I’ve sent my personal shopper a request,” he said carefully. “I’ve a call around eleven. She’ll be come by around then while I’m occupied.”</p><p>She tipped her head, chewing the corner of a toast point thoughtfully. “I assumed we we’d aim for discretion.”</p><p>“Yes, but.” He patted at his mouth with his napkin. “She encouraged me to pursue you on Friday night.” He gave her a pointed look. “Asajj is the epitome of stealth <em>and</em> fashion, I assure you.”</p><p>She waited a beat, folding her arms before her.</p><p>Maul’s smile was nothing short of radiant —</p><p>Ahsoka arched an eyebrow, dropping her toast point.</p><p>A glance at his computer, and she slipped from her stool. “Do you want to give me your password, or should I figure it out on my own?” she called over her shoulder, making a beeline for his office.</p><p>Paul ruffed from where he’d set himself beside Maul.</p><p>“Nevermind,” she said, rolling her eyes with a smile.</p><p>She pushed through the glass doors, tossing herself into his chair with a smirk at him over her shoulder. In four keystrokes, she’d reached his desktop and a series of opened applications he’d left behind.</p><p>The topmost spreadsheet contained multiple columns of figures that she supposed she had no business looking at, but the window beneath it caught her eye. A flash of information, really, set into a crude interface: Eleven alphanumeric codes under the header “Patient Case No.” gave her pause. Each was followed by a string of numbers that might’ve been serialized under a “Batch” header, and beside that followed eleven indicator lights, only one of which was greyed-out. The rest were red. Inactive? Errors? There wasn’t a legend.</p><p>The application was rudimentary, but it was clearly a test-case scenario for one of Malachor Corp’s properties. Possibly something under review for the CEO alone.</p><p>She closed the window, not curious enough to pry as she brought up Maul’s mail client and logged in with her own account. The app icon looked a little like a sun setting over water, leaving a reflection of itself in inverse: red on black, a poor colour choice for contrast.</p><p>“You should really change your password,” she called over her shoulder. “This place might be under a bio sig, but that’s no excuse for using ‘Paul’ as your global login.”</p><p>Maul’s laughter carried through the glass.</p><p>“Your coffee’s getting cold,” he chastised.</p><p>Ahsoka grinned, keyed in a quick message to her team about her alleged offsite, and logged out, deleting her account in the process.</p><p>She padded back to him, sliding into the stool at Maul’s side.</p><p>“Good?” he asked.</p><p>She arched an eyebrow. “My team’s been notified of my absence.”</p><p>A flash of teeth.</p><p>“Eat,” Maul encouraged. Ahsoka obliged him.</p><p>The man produced a decadent breakfast spread, but the volume —</p><p>Maul’s cheese eggs alone were lightly spiced and gooey, the toast was perfectly warm on the inside and crispy on the outside <em>and</em> buttered, and the fruit was a lovely blend of the expected and exotic.</p><p>“This is how you start every day.” She was lucky if she could manage a protein bar before running for her train.</p><p>“Like a man starved, my dear. I wake with the dawn and I train for at least two hours in the morning.” He pointed at the dojo with his fork. “By eight I’m ravenous.”</p><p>“But you can cook,” she protested.</p><p>He chewed, thoughtful. “Well, I do suppose I’m somewhat domesticated. You look surprised.”</p><p>She took a bite, humming with pleasure. Extra cheese.</p><p>“I thought you’d have a chef.”</p><p>Maul propped his head on his hand, his eyes crinkling a little as he regarded her.</p><p>“Would you rather I subjected you to haute cuisine?”</p><p>She sipped her coffee: dark, rich, and hot. She hummed: Just the way she liked it.</p><p>Ahsoka licked her lips, and picked up a mouthful.</p><p>“This is perfect,” she told him, warmed by his attention.</p><p>“Are you certain? I can have the jet readied. We’ll be in Paris by dinner.”</p><p>Her gaze slid to his workout clothes — shorts pulled taut across those muscled thighs, travelling up his torso to his v-neck. Corded forearms. Tight shoulders. Strong hands.</p><p>Maul only raised an eyebrow at her interest.</p><p>“We’d never make it,” she hummed, scooping her eggs with her toast.</p><p>His smile lingered, even after she’d tucked into her breakfast.</p><p>For a moment, the only sound they made was the clink of cutlery against their plates, but Ahsoka could feel his lingering attention as she ate her last slice of starfruit, peeling the flesh away from the rind as he watched.</p><p>“The greatest compliment a cook might have is someone enjoying a meal they’ve prepared,” he murmured.</p><p>The warmth of his hand at the base of her spine felt comfortable — familiar.</p><p>He finished his coffee, and Ahsoka leaned into his side, placing a hand on his thigh, stroking with her thumb. Even Paul’s snuff of protest felt as if belonged in the tableau; he cut the quiet with a plaintive whine, which was silenced with a piece of bacon.</p><p>Maul’s hand slipped beneath the shirt she wore, trailing easy caresses up her spine. She swam in the fabric, but it felt as good against her skin as his touch.</p><p>“So,” she hedged.</p><p>“So,” he answered.</p><p>“Should I infer that we’ll be working… closely together. From now on.”</p><p>Maul pursed his lips, reigning in a smirk. “Now is a good time for this conversation as any, I expect?”</p><p>Ahsoka arched an eyebrow at him.</p><p>“I would like that,” he said, searching her. “And to dispense with euphemisms, Ahsoka, I would like you to continue sharing my bed, if it pleased you to do so.”</p><p>She sipped her coffee.</p><p>“It would,” she said.</p><p>He leaned into her, his elbow on the countertop, thinking.</p><p>“Yesterday, you told me that you exercise caution with these kinds of… arrangements,” she said. “You said there’s an inherent risk in attachments for you.”</p><p>Those gold eyes locked onto hers. “There is an inherent risk for those who attach themselves to <em>me</em>,” he corrected. “I also mentioned that I do not trifle, lady. This would not be —“ He took a breath. “This is not what I would consider an ‘arrangement.’ Being an arrangement suggests convenience and some sort of gratuitous fulfilment for both parties; an indulgence, perhaps — one I’d not expend ourselves on, believing that no sentiment sat behind it.”</p><p>The intensity of his stare left her riveted, taking the weight of what he was telling her:</p><p>Serious. This was serious for him. Or, it would be — if that’s the direction they decided on.</p><p>Ahsoka, more evenly than she felt, breathed an, “I understand.”</p><p>He turned to face her fully, weighing his next words with care as he took her hand. “With respect, my Lady: perhaps you do not.” He searched her features. “Our competitors would seek to overthrow me, the press would endeavour to divulge every secret, and even my Board — should I displease them — would not hesitate to see me drawn and quartered for sport. Any weakness, any vulnerability must be squashed before it becomes a liability.” </p><p>She hesitated to give a label to herself. “Would I be a vulnerability?”</p><p>He answered without hesitation, “As much as anyone I’d give my heart to.”</p><p>Her chest gave a little involuntary squeeze at that.</p><p>Maul set his hand over her knuckles, asking permission to wrap his fingers around hers. “I would protect you, my Lady.”</p><p>She wasn’t fool enough to say she understood the playing field Maul was on, but it was clear that whatever nuances presented a threat to him would likewise become hers, moving forward.</p><p>Some hesitation softened him. Maul swallowed, gathering strength. “And you — if you were willing — would protect me.”</p><p>Oh. She bowed her head, considering the part she’d missed: this was, in the truest sense, a partnership. The implied reciprocity had snuck right by her, but knowing now that there were equal parts to play made much more sense — it gave her a portion of the power too, besides.</p><p>Her heart beat a little faster.</p><p>“The inevitability of my situation requires my —” He weighed the word carefully, “— <em>Partner</em> to negotiate a number of things, some of which may be unpalatable. The sweet and the sour, as such.”</p><p>“Partner,” she repeated.</p><p>He rolled his eyes to the ceiling, searching for something as if it pained him. With a wince, he tried again, “Paramour? Inamorata? These terms are somewhat one-dimensional.” He wouldn’t look at her. “Beloved?” She thought she spied a crest of pink over his cheek. “Companion? Friend? Lover?” He wiped at his face.</p><p>She grinned, not attempting to hide it at all at his discomfort. “Queen,” she supplied.</p><p>He looked visibly relieved for exactly one second, and then, considering it, nodded. “I like that. Let’s go with that.”</p><p>“I was —“</p><p>“— Joking, and yet I am deadly serious, my dear. We’re discussing the shouldering of the responsibilities that would belong to the command of a kingdom, were this another century.”</p><p>Ahsoka took a breath, letting it out slowly.</p><p>Maul watched her with open fascination, his earnest trepidation riveting.</p><p>It was a lot, and he knew it, she suspected.</p><p>It was a lot, and still —</p><p>It did not scare her. Maybe it should have.</p><p>Maybe that was the trick of making deals with the devil —</p><p>“Is there fine print that I should read?” she asked. “Before I sign away my soul.”</p><p>He breathed a laugh, withdrawing to admire her. Ahsoka glanced up at him through her lashes, allowing a small smile to play around her mouth.</p><p>She liked the way he flashed a little teeth when he smirked, his eyes lidded. The line of his jaw left a tantalizing path to the soft flesh of his ear, and dallying with the idea a moment, she ran her fingers from throat to lobe, memorizing the markings on his skin.</p><p>“Some,” he murmured.</p><p>She nodded, taking a breath.</p><p>“I think I’ve already taken the first steps,” she admitted.</p><p>He frowned a little, conceding. “You might always walk away, my Lady. The choice is ever yours. How quickly. How slow. If at all. I am your servant in this, as in everything else.”</p><p>She squeezed his fingers, thankful that he’d give her room to weigh it all before offering her answer. Truthfully, she thought she already had — the decision to join him the previous night locking in her decision.</p><p>“I’m not walking away.”</p><p>It hung there a moment, the weight of it sitting like a promise to him as she levelled her gaze on his once more.</p><p>“And I’m not afraid, Maul. Of your life, your business, your aspirations.” She flashed teeth. “Your Board of Directors.” She sobered. “I’m not afraid of ‘the sentiment’ sitting behind the intention either, providing that it’s good.”</p><p>He drew her hand to his mouth, and placed a lingering kiss on her knuckles that made her want to do reckless, volatile things.</p><p>“The very best I might muster,” he murmured.</p><p>She swallowed the fluttery, too-lightheaded feeling his gaze inspired.</p><p>“Then we are in agreement,” she said.</p><p>Something heated in his expression — a long, smouldering contemplation that left her heart thumping a little harder in her chest. He didn’t need to express his pleasure with her answer; not when satisfaction darkened his gaze the way it was when he looked at her anew.</p><p>“You’re staring,” she said.</p><p>He lingered a moment further, lost in thought. He frowned, and with a shrug, confessed, “You’re not wearing any knickers.”</p><p>Surprised, her mouth fell open as Maul drew to full height. He paused, peering down at her with that predatory contemplation for just a moment — the sort that made warmth pool low in her belly.</p><p>“Maul?” she asked, a little breathy.</p><p>In response, he unfolded her legs — one hand at the back of her knee as he turned her towards him. Not bothering to clear the plates, he rose, easing her from her seat to wrap her legs at his waist. Tucked against him, she locked her hands at her elbows, her arms around his shoulders as he lifted her from her stool.</p><p>With Ahsoka pressed to his chest, Maul turned them bodily, carrying her back the way they’d came — through the bedroom and the ensuite, to the bathroom beyond.</p><p>“First meeting of the day?” she asked.</p><p>He slanted his eyes at her.</p><p>“We’ve a very busy agenda,” he admitted, coming to a stop to ease her down to the heated tile floors.</p><p>With deft fingers, he began the work of undoing her buttons.</p><p>Ahsoka looked left: New York sprawled before her beyond the glass walled windows; the city waking as Maul brushed the shirt from her shoulders. She raised her eyebrows at him, the bath tub less a tub and more an infinity pool — as calm as black glass and steaming.</p><p>“Would you prefer a shower instead?” he offered.</p><p>In response, she helped him pull his teeshirt off.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>“Oh ehm gee, guys,” Ezra grumbled, throwing himself into his swivel chair. “Nine to five sucks.”</p><p>Quinlan popped his head over his monitor, pulling off an earphone. He smiled brightly. “Dude, there’s an adjustment period when you get off flex hours.”</p><p>“Dude, there’s an adjustment period for your face.”</p><p>He pointed. “One: You suck. Two: Fuel helps. P.S. Get some coffee. The Dark Side roast will melt your soul and everything else it touches.”</p><p>Quinlan vanished, the blare of whatever he was listening to drowning out Ezra’s whine.</p><p>Sabine slouched by, her face already glued to her phone. “Poe’s running standup,” she informed him, cracking her gum. She didn’t look up. “Ahsoka’s out.”</p><p>“What?” He followed her, wheeling along behind for a few desk lengths as she threw herself onto the couch near the whiteboards where the previous day’s user flow was mapped out. “What out? A day off?”</p><p>“Yep,” she said, waving the email at him from her screen. “Offsite.”</p><p>Ezra’s frown deepened. “Because that’s not suspect at all.”</p><p>Sabine looked up.</p><p>“Don’t tell me you didn’t see her jet last night. She got one text and she booted it out of our place in a jiffy — now she’s not turning up today.”</p><p>Poe swaggered in, setting his coffee cup down. “Ahsoka’s out for the day,” he said. “I’m running the standup.”</p><p>He stuck a thumb in his pocket, giving the devs a little wave.</p><p>“We know,” they both said.</p><p>“You think she’s with The Dude?” Sabine hazarded.</p><p>Ezra nodded. “<em>Oh</em> yeah.”</p><p>“What dude?” Poe asked. “Ahsoka’s dude? Nah. She takes her scrum way too seriously to skip out because of diiii — oh! Hey, other people in the room that should have not overheard any of that.” He laughed through his teeth.</p><p>“I have a point, right?” Ezra pressed.</p><p>“She <em>was</em> super bummed.”</p><p>Ezra lifted a shoulder. “I don’t think that’s because he wasn’t hitting her up. At midnight.”</p><p>“It was ten,” Sabine corrected.</p><p>“Whatever.”</p><p>“We all drank a bunch.”</p><p>“Ahsoka doesn’t ever get hungover.”</p><p>“Ahsoka doesn’t ever answer booty calls.”</p><p>“Because Ahsoka doesn’t ever <em>get</em> booty calls.”</p><p>“Guys.”</p><p>“<em>Folx</em>,” Sabine corrected sharply. “Work on being more inclusive, Poe. God.”</p><p>“I’m <em>gay</em>,” he retorted.</p><p>“Well maybe I don’t <em>want</em> to ascribe to <em>one</em> label,” she shot back.</p><p>Ezra gave up. “You’re both up here —“ He gestured over his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. “When I need you down here.” He pointed at the floor.</p><p>“She can do what and who she wants,” Sabine said, tossing herself onto the cushions. “About time. She’s had a rough enough six months with the whole —” She waved at their surroundings. “And you-know-who bailing.”</p><p>“We’re still not speaking his name?” Poe asked.</p><p>Ezra frowned. “You think she’s acting out because of ‘Skyguy’?”</p><p>Poe winced, looking over his shoulder.</p><p>“She’s not a teenager,” Sabine said. “It’s not acting out if you’re a consenting adult who craves companionship and comfort. Anakin was the closest thing to family she’s had since the whole Je’dai group thing —”</p><p>“What Je’dai group thing?” Poe asked.</p><p>“Longer than that,” said Ezra, ignoring him. “Since Ahsoka graduated high school. They snatched them up early at Je’dai — they wanted raw talent that they could shape, and Ahsoka’s…” He gestured. “Gifted,” he said carefully. “Obi-Wan was one of them, but he left too. Anakin went with them. Company went under. Rebel Inc. was born out of the detritus.”</p><p>“Skywalker was her mentor at Je’dai,” Sabine explained.</p><p>“She was a <em>kid</em>,” Ezra said. “They brought her over to that Campus, took her halfway across the country —“</p><p>“And then went and kicked her out.”</p><p>Poe frowned, obviously not having heard this part of the story before.</p><p>“Ahsoka? <em>Ahsoka,</em> Ahsoka?”</p><p>Ezra waved. “I know. Crazy, right?” He jut his chin. “Blamed her for a system-wide failure that crashed their network and their backup, exposing a hunk of ultra-under-lock-and-key code. Wasn’t anything volatile, just proprietary, but you’d think she’d killed someone, the way they were acting.”</p><p>Poe sucked his teeth. “I knew ‘Sokes was a troublemaker in her heyday.”</p><p>Sabine fixed him with her driest, wryest look — the sort that might whither plastic greenery.</p><p>“She was acquitted,” she muttered.</p><p>“She got fired anyway,” said Ezra.</p><p>“So,” he said. “She’s had a bit of a bad run and she’s blowing off some steam. No big.”</p><p>She glanced at him, an eyebrow arched.</p><p>Poe wilted, shrugging. “Or just, blowing —“</p><p>“Don’t finish that sentence or I’ll tell Rose,” Sabine warned.</p><p>“It was a <em>work</em> party,” Ezra clarified. “The dude had to be one of Malachor’s.”</p><p>“Friends and family,” Sabine said.</p><p>“Who brings ‘a friend’ to a work party and let’s them off lead to go and —“</p><p>“Hook up in a bathroom?”</p><p>Ezra gaped, then snapped his mouth shut.</p><p>“Well they were pretty posh bathrooms.”</p><p>Sabine nodded, frowning. “They were, weren’t they?”</p><p>She stilled, turning quiet.</p><p>“What?” Asked Ezra.</p><p>Too quickly, Sabine’s attention darted between them. She muttered a hasty, “Nothing.”</p><p>Poe sighed. “You know what? It’s none of our business.”</p><p>Sabine levelled her gaze on him. “She’ll tell us what’s up when she’s ready. She’s on the level. She has her shit together,” she said. “She deserves to be happy, if that’s the case. But knowing Ahsoka, she’s probably <em>actually</em> at an offsite, working her ass off, while you two are standing around discussing her sex life.”</p><p>Both men stared a beat longer than necessary.</p><p>They turned to each other, ignoring Sabine.</p><p>“And if she’s sleeping with the enemy —“ Ezra started.</p><p>“Hope he’s damned good in bed,” Poe finished for him.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>The pool had a number of jets, a ring of benches, and curved tile seats. Half of it allowed a person of Maul’s size to submerge, and the other was carefully arranged to make better use of it as a hot tub. By some miracle of engineering, the surface stayed calm while the jets broiled and beat at the skin, but the thing Ahsoka found that she liked most about it was the company.</p><p>Maul had soaked her, and pulled her onto a little bench, proceeding to sud and clean every inch of her with tender, slow hands, leaving her to enjoy both the view and his care. He used his soap, leaving her skin smelling a little like spice and leather, and when he pulled her to his lap to rinse her off, his hands kneaded those remaining tensions from her body with a sensuous languor that left her draped against his chest, half-slumbering and buoyant.</p><p>Digging his thumbs into the tight spot in her lower back, she groaned, arching forward.</p><p>“A proposition, my lady,” he murmured into her hair, fingers skimming her ribs with a familiarity she found rather liked.</p><p>“Does it involve your hands and my muscles? Because I’m already on board.” She yawned, her eyes fluttering shut, her head tipped back to his shoulder. “My Lord takes exceptional care with me.”</p><p>He grinned into her throat. Pressing a kiss to her shoulder, he hummed, his fingers trailing down her tummy and into the crook of her legs, resting there. </p><p>“I do like the sound of that.”</p><p>She opened for him an inch, and he dipped lower.</p><p>“Sore?” he asked.</p><p>She sighed. “Insatiable.”</p><p>If the stirring against her backside was any indicator, so was he.</p><p>“You’re addicting,” she said, angling into his hand.</p><p>Eyes half lidded, he watched her trying to find the right chord against his fingers.</p><p>“Go on,” he purred, staying perfectly still. “It’s a pleasure seeing you writhe for me.”</p><p>He pressed his mouth into the juncture where her jaw met her neck, his fingertips slipping against her clit, applying just enough pressure to wake her body to his attention.</p><p>“You are supple, and soft, and you mold to me, my dear. Every moment that I do not spend buried in you to the hilt is a moment wasted.”</p><p>She sighed, turning her head, and his mouth found hers.</p><p>Ahsoka gripped his arm to her chest, pushing against his hand — grinding into those two fingers that sat firm against the bud of her sex, immobile.</p><p>His tongue eased in slow circles in a kiss that wound her against him. He smiled against her mouth as she took his hand in hers, trying to draw him deeper.</p><p>“Eager, aren’t we?” he murmured.</p><p>“The way you speak to me —” Her breathing hitched. “You make me feel dirty and desired at the same time. You make me feel like —”</p><p>His lips hovered over hers. “Yes?”</p><p>“You make me feel like a —“</p><p>Maul smiled into her skin. “Queen?”</p><p>She shivered, nodding.</p><p>He eased his fingers lower, sliding them through her folds in a breath — one slipping into her, and out again. A tease. His hand caressed her, his thumb stroking small circles.</p><p>“You are a Queen,” he said against her mouth. “Why else would I persist in calling you ‘my Lady.’”</p><p>Her smile was tremulous. “I thought this whole time you were just embracing your inner Shakesperian actor.”</p><p>His lidded gaze stirred her, as did his hand.</p><p>“I think I like it when you tease me.”</p><p>He slipped inside her again, and she sighed into his kiss.</p><p>“Ah,” he said, pulling out and gently fluttering against her clit.</p><p>She sucked in a breath.</p><p>He dragged his fingers along her slit, not penetrating, just touching her because he liked it — he liked seeing her wound up for him. He liked hearing her beg.</p><p>“Ask nicely,” he purred.</p><p>She couldn’t keep the whine out of her voice. “Please, Maul. Please give me more.”</p><p>His hand cupped her breast, rolling her nipple between his thumb and forefinger, squeezing until she let out a little gasp.</p><p>He eased that solitary digit into her again, and eased it out.</p><p>She whimpered.</p><p>“I love your cunt, my dear. It’s quite responsive to my ministrations, did you know? For example —” He pressed a second finger into her, and she bucked into his hand, his knuckles against the tile in the effort to find more depth. “When I play with you as I am now, I know that if I strike this one spot — here —“</p><p>She sighed.</p><p>“You make the most lovely little noise in the back of your throat.”</p><p>She hmmed into his neck.</p><p>“And if I touch you here —“ he continued, curling his fingers, his thumb adding a line of pressure for her to grind against. Ahsoka’s eyes fluttered shut, her mouth falling open as he dragged over that one spot a second time.</p><p>“I can make your legs shake.”</p><p>She whimpered. He was right.</p><p>“You’re very tight my dear, and so sensitive.”</p><p>He brushed her clit again, and she moaned.</p><p>“So appreciative.”</p><p>Moving slowly, he eased out and back in again.</p><p>And again.</p><p>“Do you like that?”</p><p>Her body strained, her fingers gripping his arm.</p><p>“Do you like it slow?” He kissed her temple; her cheek.</p><p>Licking her lips, she nodded.</p><p>“Tell me.”</p><p>Ahsoka took a shuddering breath. “Maul —”</p><p>“My name a song on your lips.”</p><p>“Maul, I like how you touch me.”</p><p>It ached, her need for him to be rougher, to stroke her more firmly, to draw out her pleasure —</p><p>“Maul, that feels so —“</p><p>His mouth right next to hers, his fingers playing her like an instrument he’d practiced before.</p><p>“Maul,” her voice a whisper. “Maul you feel so good, please —”</p><p>“Don’t cry, dear.” He kissed her again. “My beautiful girl — such a good girl —”</p><p>“Maul —”</p><p>She needed it. She needed him to —</p><p>He eased his movements, his thrusts slow and long and delicious, her body bowing to his, weakened and needy and helpless —</p><p>“Perhaps just a little, hmm? Sweet girl.”</p><p>He grazed her clit, and she pressed into the heel of his hand, leaning forward to rut against it, her release so close she didn’t care that she was riding his fingers or that his answering praise was thread through with low encouragements.</p><p>“Come for me, Ahsoka,” he said, drawing her into his chest as she chased down that feeling —</p><p>“Come for me, my Queen.”</p><p>Her breathing caught, choked out in surprise at the low tidal that rushed over her, pulling her into a whirl of sensation that left her falling forward, a noise of satisfaction turning into a low wail over Maul’s delighted chuckle.</p><p>She fell back against him, chest heaving, her breath hitching. He rolled his hand against her and she keened as he smiled, watching her come apart.</p><p>“So beautiful when you come for me,” he whispered. “Such strength. Such grace. My good girl.”</p><p>She sighed in relief, and accepting his leisurely kiss in the aftermath, he wrapped her against him — cradling her body in the crook of his legs.</p><p>“Well done, my dear.”</p><p>The aftershocks were delicious. He coaxed another wave from her, gentler this time. Ahsoka groaned into his neck, and he dragged another from her, the whole of his palm cupping her. Warm. Full.</p><p>It felt so nice: to be held, to be cradled, to be kissed by him and carried and fucked.</p><p>She chuckled, low and dark. “I think you helped a little.”</p><p>He wiped her cheeks, kissing at the wetness he found there, and pecked the tip of her nose.</p><p>“Oh, occasionally — you know. Occasionally I can be of assistance.”</p><p>Reaching for him, she angled her hips to take him between her legs, pressing his erection into her, slicking it with her arousal where the water failed to do the job.</p><p>In response, Maul sank his teeth into her shoulder — a warning that had her bucking into his hand. He pressed her against him, stilling her movements.</p><p>His hands shivered up her arms, soothing — settling her.</p><p>Into her ear, he promised, “When you come for me again this morning, I want every inch of you to feel the release. I want you beneath me, wrapped around my body. I want to make you cry for the beauty of being broken and put back together by my cock, my dear. But most importantly, I want to hear those wonderful words from your mouth before it happens.”</p><p>Lids heavy, she hmmed. Oh, but it was so easy to find herself wet for him again so soon. So warm and at ease, wanting more —</p><p>“Please Maul,” she whispered.</p><p>He smiled.</p><p>“With fervour, my dear. With desperation. With rapture.”</p><p>She opened her mouth, and he said, “Not yet.”</p><p>Rising, he drew her along with him to the edge of the tub, and sitting her on the bench, he pulled a towel over — setting it across the tile. Her insides ached, echoes of her orgasm lingering, her nipples puckered in the steamy air.</p><p>She clasped her hands between her knees, and he looked at her, softening as he reached for her face to cup her cheek.</p><p>When he leaned forward to kiss her again, there was a gentle hesitancy there that felt softer and more subdued than before. He cupped her breast, but there was nothing sexual in it: strange, that given their brief history, the familiarity of it felt shy.</p><p>Her eyes fluttered shut, and she sank into the warmth of his touch.</p><p>His thumb grazed her collarbone, and Ahsoka reached for his wrists, rubbing circles against the marks on his hands, their fingers slipping together.</p><p>Parting her lips with his own, he delved into her mouth, tasting her, coaxing a sigh and a small noise of pleasure from deep in her chest.</p><p>Maul drew back, a frown lingering in the lines between his eyes.</p><p>“Why does something so simple feel so bloody good?” he muttered.</p><p>She smiled into it, hesitating. “I’m not sure this is normal. I think — and I don’t know for sure, but this feels… uncommon.”</p><p>She opened her eyes to find him staring, as if he were memorizing every curve of her face. With his fingertips, he traced the marks on her skin revealed by being cleaned.</p><p>“I wouldn’t know,” he admitted. “I’ve never —”</p><p>He stopped himself, frowning. Maul sighed.</p><p>“Perhaps this isn’t the right time to mention it, but my upbringing was not at all… warm,” he said carefully.</p><p>Ahsoka flinched a little at that, seeing the pain chased in his eyes.</p><p>“I’ve not… hurt you, have I? I’ve not been…” He struggled. “Cold? Cruel?”</p><p>Her frown deepened.</p><p>“If I have, I assure you it’s only because I lack the experience in these matters. My yearnings and searchings have not always met so hospitably in the middle, and I fear that when it comes to the heart I may be remiss in the particular studies that would make me an adept, but —”</p><p>Ahsoka eased over to him, delving beneath the surface and touching his thighs lightly — pulling herself closer in the drift.</p><p>She stopped before him, the ripples in the water where he sat on the bench before her revealing the tops of his knees, but not the scars below.</p><p>Taking his hands, she pressed one to her chest, and mimicked the gesture on his own so that she could feel his heartbeat.</p><p>Those little lines between his eyes didn’t disappear.</p><p>“You’re warm with me,” she said quietly. “And I don’t know much better myself — what’s typical — but you’re not cruel. You’ve not been unkind, or cold. If you’re guilty of anything, it’s making me feel so good that I don’t want to leave, and while that’s a little terrifying in and of itself --“</p><p>She shuddered on the exhale.</p><p>“I still want to climb into your lap right now, and I want to hold you, and I want you to tell me everything you want to tell me so that you don’t have that shadow in your eyes anymore. So that you don’t look so sad, Maul.”</p><p>She touched his cheek.</p><p>She touched her forehead to his, and when his breathing didn’t even out, she clambered on top of him, letting him pull her into his lap by the waist, his cheek pressing into her chest, his hands finding her bottom and notching her closer before wrapping his arms around her.</p><p>“I’m not sad,” he muttered, setting his chin between her breasts and looking up at her with doleful eyes. “I was giving you my best puppy dog impression.”</p><p>“It worked.” She kissed the tip of his nose.</p><p>He gave her bum a little squeeze, burying the untruth.</p><p>She knew that look — she’d seen it a few times before, worn by Anakin: it was the particular kind of fear that ate at a person when they had something to lose.</p><p>“I want to know everything,” she told him. “When you’re ready to tell me everything.”</p><p>He pressed a kiss between her breasts, contemplating something.</p><p>“Will you do the same for me?” he asked into her skin.</p><p>Hugging his head, she said into his temple, easily, “Yes.”</p><p>He closed his eyes a moment, and set her back down on the bench so that he could take her face in his hands. “You’re a rather brave woman, Ahsoka Tano. I quite admire that.”</p><p>“Brave or foolish.” She lifted a shoulder. And to herself, she blushed. And maybe a touch smitten.</p><p>“Perhaps both,” he said, and kissed her again, tenderly and with affection.</p><p>“Maul,” she breathed. “Please.”</p><p>He smiled against her mouth. “I’ll never tire of that.”</p><p>“Please, Maul,” she whispered, and his answering chuckle spooled a little warmth low in her belly.</p><p>He kissed her again, peppering her cheeks so that she laughed, and he caught her mouth.</p><p>“I like you very much, Lady Tano. Before all else, I must be honest in this, as I’d not be able to conceal this affection from you much longer.”</p><p>She pulled back, her breath catching at the admission —</p><p>He’d caught her off-guard, and so disarmed, she couldn’t find the words to tell him how much he affected her. That she didn’t answer right away — that he expected nothing of her in return made her eyes burn, the world blurring a little at how easily he’d confessed his feelings. Like it cost him nothing at all.</p><p>His smile was easy as he gestured for her to stand so that he could lift her up, setting her on the edge of the bath. He drew himself out a moment later, fetching towels for them both.</p><p>“Maul,” she said, stopping him.</p><p>He paused, giving her a quizzical smile that appeared unexpectedly boyish on his face as he scrubbed at the back of his head. The man was at least ten years her senior, but the way his left cheek dimpled, she imagined that she could see a little of his younger self peeking through: one who didn’t take life as seriously as the businessman he’d grown into.</p><p>It ached a little, her heart giving a little squeeze all of a sudden that she didn’t understand, though distantly, it registered that while she had plenty of friends, and there had always been plenty of love, there’d never been anyone with whom she’d been intimate who made her swell and quake like this stranger she’d only just met. Nothing with anyone had ever felt like it fit so well — like a part of her had been absent all this time, and in meeting him, she was beginning to fix the broken parts of her whose healing she’d ignored.</p><p>She wanted to say, “I like you too,” but a sudden spike of shyness had her cheeks prickling with heat. Instead, she slid back into the pool, swimming across to the spot where he’d left his prosthetics, and collected them for him. Holding them above her head, she returned, setting them at his side. Still in the water, she looked up at him, willing all that care she felt for this man into her smile so that she might show him. So that he might <em>know</em> how she felt too —</p><p>And Ahsoka told him, “Teach me how to put these on.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>For anyone who’s ever fallen for the wrong person — there’s something about the experience of getting into it that can cloud the judgement of even the most level-headed individuals; sometimes too quickly as the situation progresses. Sometimes you see it, and sometimes you don’t, and sometimes you only realize it when you’re in over your head. </p><p>And yeah, you know the old adage: if it seems too good to be true, you’re probably sleeping with the guy running an underground crime syndicate. </p><p>*points at the bucket we've been talking about*</p><p>*jogs back a few paces to get a running head-start*</p><p>Let's do this shit.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Foxglove</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Maul and Ahsoka discuss the proposal, Ventress is FASHION, and Paul shows his true colours.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>"All great truths begin as blasphemies." - George Bernard Shaw</p><p>Forgive me for any and all errors and leaps in judgement pertaining to nanotech. I am not a medical professional, nor within spitting distance of anything of the sort. SCI-FI-FANTASY baby: i.e. making shit up as I go along. </p><p>Further notes:<br/>- Yes, that is a riff on the cookie quote from TCW.<br/>- Yes, that IS a Macbeth reference to the three witches.<br/>- The application of Star Wars canon to medical advancements is good enough for meeeee. <br/>- You may also note that, now that the reveal is in place, the tags have been updated to reflect the nefarious underbelly of this fic: corporate AU meets crime lord AU. Thank you for being patient -- and if you saw it in chapter one: kudos to you. &lt;3</p><p>Content Warning: Don’t be afraid my love, it’s just little bit of blood.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So, you’ve been sitting on an arsenal for six months,” she said, arching off his mattress, the sheets half-draped off her body. He dug his thumbs into her calf, easing out the tensions, but careful to avoid the place where he’d re-wrapped her injury from Friday night with gauze and tape. “Oh, that’s the spot.”</p><p>Draped diagonally from her, one of her legs tossed across his hip, Maul regarded her from where he massaged her legs, propped on one elbow and half-clad in the same sheet that she wore herself.</p><p>Pressing a kiss to Ahsoka’s inner thigh, he agreed, “The preliminary plans were in place for this venture years ago, but the nannites in question are… challenging to obtain. It took us ten months to source them, another ten to obtain distribution rights.”</p><p>“Hardware.”</p><p>“Hardware,” he agreed. “The very best and most unobtrusive, but utterly useless without a directive.”</p><p>She chuckled. “So you bought Rebel Inc. out to make it happen.”</p><p>“Correct.”</p><p>“And your expectation was that we would engineer the application to make them…” She gestured vaguely. “<em>Do</em> things within the human body.”</p><p>The casual conversation about medical technology conducted naked and while rubbing her feet wasn’t unexpected — this was the idea he’d wanted to run by her, after all. The surprise, he thought, was in the fact that as he briefed her on the very thing he’d hired her for, was that their meeting hadn’t required clothing. And they were still surprisingly focused, considering — perhaps even more than they would have been had they found themselves in his office.</p><p>“Diagnose,” he agreed. “Disseminate. Monitor. Cure. Anything from a common cold to a broken bone. Cancer. Neurological diseases. Cardiac problems. Progressive degenerative conditions.” He considered her absolute ease at which he delivered his ambitions for the project — that neutral interest that kept her features impassive. So different from how she responded to his ministrations.</p><p>Lovely, in a different way: Ahsoka Tano was as sharp as a blade.</p><p>“Everything. But think of the possible applications — we could discover tumours before they turned malignant, diagnose bacterial infections before they enter the blood. Neutralize every threat to the body from within it: contagions, viruses, irregular cellular activity —”</p><p>Ahsoka rolled her head to the side to meet his gaze, something calculating brewing there.</p><p>Evenly, “You’re talking about treating every working system in the human body with a dose of micro-bugs, Maul. Permanent monitoring. Zero privacy. An active test-case is going to cost billions, not to mention the legal ramifications —”</p><p>“It will be elective. Patients will need to opt-in, of course. And —“ He shrugged. “I have money. I have investors. I have interest.”</p><p>“Opt-in for something that’s so small it can’t even be removed. You’re not talking about a micro-chip. You’re talking about a permanent army existing at a cellular level.”</p><p>He raised an eyebrow in challenge.</p><p>“…And you’ve already considered this.” She licked her lips, thinking.</p><p>“What else?” he pressed.</p><p>She chewed her lip, thoughtful. “What about security?”</p><p>“Ah.”</p><p>“If we’re putting these nannites into the body with the intention of healing, isn’t there also a possibility that the reverse could be true, too?”</p><p>“You’re thinking of my garden,” he said, a small smile threatening. “I’d prefer not to poison the purchasing population, if at all possible, dear.”</p><p>She sat up, pulling the sheet up to cover herself.</p><p>“I mean: what can heal might also be harmful.”</p><p>“Nannite technology is quite safe, I assure you —“</p><p>“It’s the programming that concerns me. What if the code gets tampered with? What if — okay.” She stopped, sat up, tugging at the sheet. A fervour had lit her gaze. “Let’s say, hypothetically, there’s a back door — the nannites cannot be reprogrammed to, I don’t know, do the opposite of what we want them to: to grow harmful cells instead of neutralizing them. Create a blood clot that triggers a heart attack. Shut down the hypothalamus with the tap of a button.”</p><p>“We restrict their movements in the body based on patient requirements.”</p><p>She shook her head. “We need more than that.”</p><p>“We build a failsafe to flush the nannites from the system.”</p><p>She frowned, but nodded. “That’s a start. The software would need to grow organically based on information collected from the patient’s body — it’d need to be controlled. It would need to be two thousand percent secure otherwise we’d leak patient vulnerabilities.”</p><p>“The worst sort of doxxing,” he joked.</p><p>Ahsoka didn’t laugh.</p><p>“This is a very sensitive initiative, Maul.”</p><p>“With the possibility to heal and treat billions. <em>Billions</em> of lives saved, Ahsoka.”</p><p>He kneaded the arch of her foot, but this time, it didn’t distract her.</p><p>“Don’t you think that’s a little like playing god?”</p><p>A small smirk. “Without question. But — nannites are not a death cure. They’re a means of transmission and repair. Think of them like little doctors: they might administer the remedy, but they cannot create it. A literal anti-virus software with an actionable component, if you will.”</p><p>She exhaled a breath.“‘Literal anti-virus,’” she muttered.</p><p>“Literally.”</p><p>She pursed her lips at him.</p><p>“That’s why I would entrust the task to you, Ms. Tano,” he said around his smirk. “You and your team. I need someone to helm this project with the conscience of a saint — to examine all possible failure points, and see to it that those vulnerabilities are mitigated. Someone who understands why this project is so close to my heart.”</p><p>She searched him. “Did you plan this?”</p><p>He stilled, wondering if she meant his courting her, or his <em>courting</em> her. Perhaps a bit of both.</p><p>Maul tipped his head, examining her. “It’s why I bought your company. For <em>your</em> particular skillset.”</p><p>She flushed. “You mean for Anakin Skywalker’s.”</p><p>Maul searched her gaze. “His work caught the Board’s attention. Your skills are the goldmine that they overlooked.”</p><p>She looked down. Looked away.</p><p>“The Board, regrettably, sometimes demonstrate a resistance to emerging technologies, particular those that carry an inherent amount of risk for their interests. I needed a means of convincing them, and Rebel Inc. will be that device.”</p><p>She appeared doubtful.</p><p>He sighed. “They value a very simple tenet, Ahsoka, one that I do not agree with fully thought I might parrot it back to them as required.”</p><p>“What’s that?” She asked.</p><p>“Time is money. Money is power.” He frowned, dipping his head. “A partial truth, given how risk averse they are it would seem that their primary goal is protecting their interests, rather than expanding their empire.”</p><p>“There’s more, isn’t there?”</p><p>He licked his lips, watching her to gauge her reaction. “Power is freedom.”</p><p>Palpatine’s motto.</p><p>A breath clicked in his throat as he watched a small frown tug at the corners of her mouth.</p><p>“You don’t agree,” he surmised. Warily, she considered him. “I don’t either,” he offered.</p><p>Maul raised his chin, wrestling with a small, secret grin of his own.</p><p>“Control,” he offered. “Is power. Control over oneself and one’s body, one’s mind.”</p><p>“One’s health.” She looked down, considering. </p><p>He kept the emotion from his face; not the conclusion he’d intended, but it fit.</p><p>Maul touched her hand.</p><p>“I see the light in your eyes, Ahsoka. I understand that you’re doing your best to play devil’s advocate, but I also that if I were to tell you that I’d put you in charge of this initiative, you’d own it completely. We have the hardware. We have the foundational controls: the databases that would drive detection and treatment and analysis. We even have a functional prototype that allows us to direct a capsule’s worth of nannites administered topically.”</p><p>“A bandaid with nannites in it,” she deadpanned.</p><p>He pulled a face. “A <em>bacta</em> patch, actually. And we’ve managed a rudimentary execution: rapid healing of small surface wounds.”</p><p>She stared. “And it’s safe? It’s effective?”</p><p>He stared back, searching her features. A beat, and Maul frowned, relinquishing her limb to reach for his bedside table drawer from which he extracted a penknife.</p><p>“Maul —” she started, sitting upright.</p><p>He pulled a small rectangular packet next.</p><p>“You just have them <em>sitting</em> there?”</p><p>A small smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Perhaps I was unclear: I’m a <em>billionaire</em>, darling. Also, my apartments are more secure than the Louvre; than Fort Knox, even.” He gestured, waving the knife far too airily. “My interest is medicine. I keep my interests close. Now, I hope you fare well at the sight of blood.”</p><p>She shrank back as, without hesitation, Maul made a short, shallow cut across his forearm.</p><p>“Oh —“ she managed, clapping a hand to her mouth.</p><p>He set the knife back down, opening the patch with his teeth and a wink.</p><p>“Was that really necessary?” She scooted closer.</p><p>“We’ve put these bacta patches through the rigours of testing. They’re quite effective, for what they can do —“</p><p>A clear sticker came off the backing, one side coated with a transparent gel. The blood welled on his forearm, the wound not deep enough to seep, but deep enough to bleed.</p><p>“Come closer, love. You may want to time this.”</p><p>Frowning, she watched him apply the patch to the wound.</p><p>He regarded her open interest, a small smile flitting across his features at her wary concern for him.</p><p>“It doesn’t hurt, I promise.”</p><p>Tipping her head, she pursed her lips at him as if to say he was an idiot, but was too polite to follow through. He chuckled, and held out his arm for her.</p><p>She snatched his phone up, bypassed his password, and set the timer. Maul thought he’d need to set up better encryption if that’s how easily she could get into his hardware.</p><p>Ahsoka glanced at the wound, the red line evident through the bandage.</p><p>“One thousand pre-programmed nannites per square inch,” he murmured, turning his arm this way and that. “All set with the directives to slow, stanch, coagulate, and knit the tissue back together with the added bonus of a mild analgesic and antibacterial swatch to prevent infection.”</p><p>“No pain.”</p><p>“Stops on contact.”</p><p>She glanced at the phone.</p><p>“Fifteen seconds,” she paused, frowning as the line of red receded beneath the patch.</p><p>Ahsoka leaned forward, grabbing at his wrist.</p><p>Maul chuckled, brushing her braids over her shoulder with his free hand.</p><p>She stared at him, and then back to the patch. Her frown deepened. “It got smaller.”</p><p>“Twenty-five seconds,” he counted, propping an elbow on his knee.</p><p>“Maul —” She squeezed him, not entirely certain of what she was seeing as the wound shrank to half-size, the cut closing. A few dribbles of red had squeezed out, stuck between his flesh and the sticker, but the nannites were doing their job.</p><p>“They’ve a lifespan of roughly twelve hours, with a built-in deterioration rate of —“ He frowned. “Six hours, perhaps? Depending on the mass of the individual treated. Endomorphs, of course, will absorb them sooner. Within twenty hours, the are flushed through the system.”</p><p>Ahsoka chewed her lip, her grip on him hungry.</p><p>“How.”</p><p>“Through the urine, of course. Harmless.”</p><p>She stared at the small white line that remained.</p><p>“Forty-five seconds,” she breathed.</p><p>Peeling off the sticker, he cleared off a lingering smear of blood with his thumb. Not even a scratch remained.</p><p>A number of calculations flit between her gaze, her sight fixed on some not-so distant future that suddenly appeared much more within reach.</p><p>“But this is incredible.”</p><p>“This is ineffectual inasmuch as I cannot deliver it into people’s hands.”</p><p>She blinked. “Is it… unpleasant?”</p><p>“The cost is when the market can’t afford it. It’s a fancy bandaid, Ahsoka.”</p><p>A small smile threatened.</p><p>“What I want,” he said, scrapping the used-up plaster. “Is to affect internal conditions in the body and brain: cancer,” he said. “Seizures. Motor control issues. I want to suppress deadly viruses before they might take hold of the immune system. We have the tools. What we need is to make it <em>work</em>.”</p><p>Wrapping her knees to her chest, she set her chin down atop her arms, thinking, still. Weighing the possibilities and challenges and resources required.</p><p>“Do you recall,” he began carefully. “What I said about my brother?”</p><p>Those blue eyes turned up to him, a sadness in them.</p><p>“Oh,” she said softly.</p><p>He reached for her, taking her hand in his, and he drew back the sheet from his prosthetics that she’d so meticulously, carefully re-attached for him that morning in their bath before he’d carted her back to bed.</p><p>“The same bacterial meningitis that took Savage’s life so swiftly, also took a part of me.” He gestured at his legs. “I was the lucky one, but in Savage’s case, technology like this could have spared him ten times over. He might never have even seen the inside of a hospital, with early detection.”</p><p>“In-built automatic detection of various ailments,” she mused softly. “We might alert patients to an oncoming head cold with an alert on their phone, with the option to deliver the appropriate treatment mechanisms to suppress any approaching symptoms.”</p><p>He knew he had her, then.</p><p>“Technology that moves the world forward can be terrifying, at first. Others will attempt to condemn us, or halt our progress, but you must remember: there is good in the outcome, even if the process may seem a little medieval at first.”</p><p>He pulled her to him, settling her at his side where she belonged.</p><p>“You see that, don’t you?” he asked.</p><p>She frowned. “I don’t see anything medieval about wanting to help others.”</p><p>He raised his eyebrows, <em>Hmph</em>ing into her temple where he laid a kiss.</p><p>“Not so long ago, they bled patients to cure their ailments. They administered leeches.”</p><p>She raised her eyebrows. “Henbane, opium, hemlock,” she recited.</p><p>Half-frowning, half-smiling, he searched her gaze. “You remembered.”</p><p>She smirked, parroting his words back to him, “‘Soporific sponges soaked in henbane, opium,and hemlock were used to anesthetize amputees during 15th-century surgeries.’ I’m well-aware of the challenges in convincing others to take risks, Maul. I’m also aware of the probable ramifications of getting it <em>wrong</em>.” She touched his chin, thinking. “Fortunately, my tactical for herding edge cases is so seasoned it’s practically spicy.”</p><p>Oh, but he liked the sound of that.</p><p>Ahsoka pressed a kiss to his jaw, and he rumbled his appreciation.</p><p>“So you’ll arrange for a prototype if I outfit you with the resources.”</p><p>She raised her eyebrows. “I’ll need to clear it with Obi-Wan so we can adjust our roadmap. I need to shuffle my resources so I can get dev time on this.”</p><p>It was a start.</p><p>“Thank you,” he said, and he meant it.</p><p>Maul eased the sheet from her body, bearing the wonder that was this woman to him in all her most vulnerable glory, and only finding her contemplation edged with something sharp. Calculating. Brimming with possibilities.</p><p>Grazing down her leg, he hesitated at her ankle where a bunching of gauze and tape remained from her injury from Friday night. Touching his hand lightly, she considered him a moment further in a way that suggested a shift in the weight of things —their comfort with each other sliding into realms of confidence. She surprised him, again:</p><p>“Does it hurt? The bacta patch?”</p><p>Half-frowning, half-smiling, he replied, “It rather tingles, actually.”</p><p>She worried her lip a little, dampening a smile as she appeared to arrive at some decision. It took a moment further to understand how long it had been since anyone had offered their trust to him so willingly.</p><p>With a glance at her ankle, Ahsoka asked him, “Do you have another?”</p><p>He didn’t hesitate when he fetched her one of her own, his movements careful as he removed the old dressing, puzzling over the strange course of things.</p><p>Absently, Maul placed a kiss to her knee as he applied the new patch, careful of his fingers but still surprised when she sucked her teeth as the cool gel touched her skin.</p><p>“Alright?”</p><p>She touched his face with a tenderness he was unaccustomed to, but found he rather liked. “Yes,” she said to his surprise. “Thank you.”</p><p>She watched him all the while as he fussed, even as he settled back, still marvelling that she could commit herself so easily to his work. No doubt. No hesitation.</p><p>Bloody brave, he thought to himself.</p><p>Bloody naked, too.</p><p>She didn’t shrink from him or hide herself. She merely divested him of his own coverings, unafraid of what awaited: what devilries she might encounter in dealing with him.</p><p>“Maul,” she said to him. “Come here.”</p><p>And he obeyed with a fervour, crawling to her to kiss her mouth, those plush lips parting for him with a languor he was discovering he loved to lose himself to.</p><p>“Well,” she sighed, gesturing to the batch patch. “It’s not leeches, but I think it’s working.”</p><p>He chucked, kissing her again.</p><p>“You’ve not met my Board of Directors, my dear. Remember this, when confronted with the struggles of that inevitable confrontation: all great truths begin as blasphemies.”</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>Robed in black silk that smelled like Maul’s cologne and barefoot, Ahsoka sent a quick text to staunch her harried roommate’s dozen unanswered queries from the night before as Maul dressed for his video meeting.</p><p>Rose smashed a response back immediately, demanding details, which Ahsoka shut the screen on.</p><p>“I’d be remiss if I didn’t warn you,” he said, knotting his tie. “Asajj is somewhat of an acquired taste.”</p><p>Stopping his fingers, she drew him to her, pulling the silk between her own fingers and looping it around into a Windsor knot. She notched it to his throat, settling his collar smoothly on either side. Perfect.</p><p>“Well then it might interest you to know that I’ve sampled from a varied palette of acquaintances over the years. If you consider her amongst your friends, then consider her mine as well.”</p><p>His gaze lowered, considering her in a long look down down his aquiline nose, lips twisted in a small, satisfied smirk.</p><p>“Are we allied then, my Lady?”</p><p>She tipped her head to the side, weighing his words. “I suppose that’s one way of putting it, my Lord. Allies. Partners.” She lifted a shoulder in a far too casual shrug for the significance of it.</p><p>“Lovers,” he supplied on a breath, learning in to brush the shell of her ear, leaving goosebumps pebbling over her arms. He smoothed his hands over them, warming her. “Something more, I’d endeavour, at our leisure.”</p><p>She smiled, shutting her eyes briefly.</p><p>“At our leisure,” she agreed, not one to underestimate the possibilities of a future together. In time. There was time yet. “If I survive this meeting with your —”</p><p>Paul barked once, sharply, in the direction of the doors.</p><p>Maul’s head snapped left, and growled as the elevator swished open. “Asajj.”</p><p>Laden with shopping bags, chin held high, hips swinging, a bluetooth mic in one ear and wearing the most vicious pair of stilettos Ahsoka had ever seen off a runway — in strode the fiercest-looking creature she thought she might’ve ever laid eyes on.</p><p>A glacial blue gaze froze her in place, and Maul sighed, “I’ll need to revoke her access to my apartments, I think.”</p><p>“Frightfully challenging to maintain any sort of privacy,” Asajj agreed, staring. She didn’t smile. If anything, Ahsoka thought she narrowed her eyes as she towered over her — one hip canted to the side as she stared Ahsoka down. She fixed that steely gaze on Maul. The smile she favoured him with looked sharp enough to sever limbs.</p><p>“Not that you’ve had occasion to be concerned with that, Maul.”</p><p>“Ahsoka Tano, may I present Asajj Ventress —“</p><p>She rolled her eyes, thrust the bags at him, and prowled closer with that razor smile of hers.</p><p>“Let’s dispense with the formalities.” She extended a hand to clasp Ahsoka’s fingers, giving her a little squeeze. “We’ve many things to discuss without your shadow casting a pall on us, Maul.”</p><p>Oh fuck, thought Ahsoka.</p><p>While the thought of introducing Maul to her friends had been thrust summarily out the window as soon as it had crossed her mind — knowing what Sabine and Ezra and Rose and Poe might do to him if she permitted alone time with her “casual fling” — it hadn’t occurred to her that Maul’s acquaintances might actually attempt the same with her.</p><p>“Come along, dear. Let’s get you out of those rags,” said Asajj as she ushered Ahsoka back to the living room.</p><p>She smiled without showing her teeth to the taller woman.</p><p>Defeated and a little bemused, Maul dumped the bags. He pursed his mouth into a momentary frown at his friend, touching Ahsoka on the elbow with a brief reassurance. The look of concern that chased it was actually a little sweet, though the desire to pull him back to her side became almost unbearable as he thrust a hand into his pocket and did that thing with the back of his head — scrubbing at it in concern or frustration — that she found she quite liked.</p><p>“I won’t be more than an hour,” he promised.</p><p>“And if it escalates like last time, doubtless we’ll hear all about it straight through the walls,” said Asajj. “At least it’s only the three witches today.”</p><p>If there was a question in the look Ahsoka threw at Maul in a panic, he only acknowledged it with a barely-there shake of his head.</p><p>“An hour,” he repeated, slipping away to his office and leaving Ahsoka in the clutches of Asajj Ventress, whose smile crept into the creases of her eyes in a way that was almost seductive, but fell short to land on vicious.</p><p>Watching him behind the glass wall, settling behind his desk stirred something in her she couldn’t immediately place. For all Maul’s composure, there was something too perfect about the way he settled into his chair. Too composed. Too practiced. As if he were drawing on some well of inner strength that turned his profile as placid as a sheet of ice.</p><p>She shivered.</p><p>Asajj watched her, watching him.</p><p>“He is a master of his craft,” she purred. “So skilled at the art of negotiation one would not know how irritable these impromptu meetings with the Board make him.”</p><p>Blinking, Ahsoka tore her attention away from Maul’s profile as the screen before him winked on, revealing a group of people seated at a table that she didn’t recognize at all.</p><p>“Shouldn’t you be participating in this call? Maul said you held a seat.”</p><p>Arching an eyebrow, Asajj considered her. “It seems I am not the only one ‘playing hooky’ from my responsibilities.”</p><p>Matching her, Ahsoka folded her arms across her chest. She lifted her chin in the approximation of attempting to stare someone down — someone who was a head taller and looked like she might be capable of gutting her with her coffin nail manicure.</p><p>“Personally, I think it a bold choice,” Asajj continued. “On your second day and all.”</p><p>It prickled. Like the woman was testing her.</p><p>Ashoka tilted her head, considering. “Are you insinuating that this is a scenario of my design? That I —“ she frowned. “Seduced him? Because I’m fairly confident that you spiked his drink on the night of the party, making you a facilitator.”</p><p>A small, wicked smile. “Oh, most certainly. What I would love to assess is the intentions of the person who found herself fortunate to continue sharing my dear Maul’s company so far after the fact. A feat,” she said, “accomplished never by no one. So, you see, Ahsoka — you must be something special. I only endeavour to understand how.”</p><p>Too coy, she thought. But at least the woman was honest. Probably. The possessiveness in her assessment didn’t go unnoticed. ‘My Maul’. Ahsoka bristled.</p><p>“You’re a member of the board. Surely, you know my position.”</p><p>“But not your <em>raison d’etre</em>.”</p><p>“I want to help people,” she shot back. “By whatever means necessary.”</p><p>“Maul is not a charity case.”</p><p>“I meant in my work.”</p><p>She leered. “Stay on target, Tano. You’re dabbling into a particular sort of power that requires the sort of fastidious attention to detail that would otherwise dissuade most reasonable and level people from ever even considering a tryst.”</p><p>“Then I suppose it’s a good thing that this isn’t a —“</p><p>Asajj raised her eyebrows.</p><p>Shit.</p><p>Ahsoka shut her eyes briefly.</p><p>“Oh, thank god,” said Asajj, satisfied to have riled her into the not-admission. She rolled her eyes, sauntering to the collection of shopping bags, relieved apparently. She waved her over, the test concluded as quickly as it started. “While your professional mein is quite sharp, I see that with the right sort of pressure, you’ll capitulate.” She eyed her, taking in Ahsoka’s state of relative undress. A small smile, softer this time. “Don’t look so slandered, dear: I wanted to be certain that he wasn’t the only person catching feelings.”</p><p>Ahsoka chewed her lip, glancing at Maul, who spoke in low-tones to the board members on his screen.</p><p>“Oh, I won’t tell him your secret. We’ll work on your decorum under duress,” she said. “If that’s something you’d endeavour to improve upon?” She cut a glance at Maul herself, and at the board on-screen. “Doubtless, if you’ll be operating in these circles alongside him, it will only serve your benefit. The Chairman is —“ She took a breath. “Quite risk-averse. But extremely demanding. A tyrant, really, whose ‘grand plan’ remains a mystery to all but himself.”</p><p>Ahsoka almost expected her to call him a number of names: it look like several had caught behind Asajj’s teeth, but her self-control was such that when she smiled, Ahsoka just <em>knew</em> how locked down the woman was.</p><p>“Rather a pain in all of our arses. Maul’s more than anyone.”</p><p>She held up a slip of black stretchy material and tossed it over the back of the couch.</p><p>Ahsoka looked at the clothes Asajj laid out for her: an arsenal of Gucci, Prada, Vuitton, and Prada.At the exact moment when she thought she’d missed the one bit of critical business attire, Asajj dumped out three suit jackets from Chanel and their matching skirts.</p><p>Everything was in her size, exactly. And there were shoes too.</p><p>Fear crept in at the edges.</p><p>She hazarded, “I thought you were bringing a change of clothes for the day?”</p><p>Asajj considered her. “Every woman ought to have the choice as to which role she might assume with her attire,” she said. “There is power in choosing whether one might be a dragon, or a —”</p><p>Paul ruffed from the balcony, clicking his way over to see what the fuss was about.</p><p>“Dog,” Asajj said flatly.</p><p>Ahsoka took a seat a little too carefully on the couch, tucking her legs beneath her so that when Paul trotted over and tossed himself into her lap for belly rubs, she could oblige him.</p><p>The other woman eyed them together — Paul’s tongue lolling out of his face in pleasure, his eyes squinched shut. His back paw flicked at the air.</p><p>“Dear me,” she muttered. “This is serious, isn’t it?”</p><p>“He’s not like this with everyone?”</p><p>For demonstration, Asajj took a swishing step closer, extending her hand for Paul to sniff. He flipped, scrabbling against Ahsoka’s legs, and snapped at the air where Asajj’s fingers had dangled a moment before.</p><p>She withdrew, giving Ahsoka a haughty, ‘told you so,’ look.</p><p>Paul bared his teeth at Ventress, growling.</p><p>“As vicious as his Master,” she said.</p><p>Paul returned to her side, plopping down at her thigh, and cast his doleful gaze up at her. Innocent of all accusations.</p><p>“And his Master —“ Ahsoka cleared her throat. “You seem fairly comfortable with each other.”</p><p>Asajj slowed to freezing on the spot, lowering herself and folding her hands delicately at her knees. She stared, a small, polite smirk frozen in place.</p><p>“You’ve known each other a long time?”</p><p>There was something birdlike in the way she tilted her head, but the way Asajj’s eyes narrowed was all serpent.</p><p>“We’ll likewise need to improve upon your subterfuge.”</p><p>She flushed.</p><p>“We’re as close to brother and sister as one might be without sharing blood,” said Asajj, searching her expression. She raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to capture the punchline. When Ahsoka couldn’t forge the connection, Asajj looked away, smoothing her hands down her thighs with a small, unhappy twist of her mouth the only sign that Ahsoka’d struck a nerve.</p><p>“Has he told you of his brother?” she asked.</p><p>Oh, thought Ahsoka, heart sinking.</p><p>“Savage.”</p><p>Asajj levelled that cool stare on her a moment. Softening, she said quietly, “Savage was my intended. We were betrothed.”</p><p>Ahsoka stilled, guilt chasing her for the knee-jerk suspicion.</p><p>“When Savage died, well — Maul decided he’d keep me.” She lifted an elegant shoulder in a half shrug. “Though not in any capacity that would warrant the spirit of competition.”</p><p>They both looked to Maul’s office, then, and a flicker of something on-screen snagged at Ahsoka’s attention. With thoughts of Savage dampened, Ahsoka turned to better gauge what she’d seen with a frown:</p><p>Familiar hair. Familiar frown. Familiar jaw and nose. Familiar scar across the right eye —</p><p>Her mentor’s face lingered on screen a beat — a news clipping shared via screenshot, she supposed. Her pulse sped to a drone in her ears. Paul lapped at her fingers, snuffing into her palm.</p><p>Ahsoka shook herself.</p><p>Asajj was staring.</p><p>“Forgive me for being forward,” said Asajj. “But I’ve read some into your file as well.”</p><p>She eased backwards, the couch crinkling under her weight.</p><p>“Anakin Skywalker was your mentor, was he not? At that little company you were at before Rebel Inc. snatched you up?”</p><p>The picture of Anakin’s face vanished as quickly as it had appeared, leaving Ahsoka’s heart hammering a little faster.</p><p>Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. She couldn’t swallow.</p><p>Ahsoka rasped, “You know about Anakin.”</p><p>“He was bought out during the acquisition,” she said lightly. “What he did with the money…” She trailed off. “It’s impossible to say when the stipulations are so iron-clad. No further involvement with the company or its employees was the measure requested for his non-compete. My understanding was that he took a leave. Bora Bora, perhaps.”</p><p>Ahsoka searched her for some deceit, but Asajj was too careful, too poised. She only smiled lightly.</p><p>“His departure has affected you greatly. Even I can see that,” she said. “You were terribly attached,” she surmised, treading carefully. “Lovers?” Asajj hazarded.</p><p>She blinked, surprised.</p><p>“No?” said Ahsoka with a frown. She huffed a laugh, her heart aching a little. “More like a brother.”</p><p>Something cleared in Asajj’s expression. “Oh,” she said. “Oh dear.” She clasped Ahsoka’s forearm. “It’s so much worse when they’re like family.”</p><p>She swallowed the lump in her throat. Her voice came out thready. “He never told me what was happening.” And he hadn’t called since.</p><p>The unspoken admission fell like a feather — noticeable by only her hesitation, but Asajj was too polite to comment. Ahsoka suspected the other woman could read her as easily as an open book.</p><p>Whatever concerns sat behind it, Ahsoka smoothed and smothered, tampering it down to be negotiated later. If her concerns showed on her face, Asajj didn’t comment.</p><p>“These agreements sometimes have extenuating clauses, dear. Even I don’t know the particulars of Skywalker’s particular arrangement, and I hold a seat on the board. The legalities of these things are... restrictive. Some answers —” She made a futile gesture. “You might have a team of private investigators at your disposal, but the search for closure eludes even those who employ even the most nefarious efforts.”</p><p>“Lawyers?”</p><p>She scoffed. “Witchcraft.”</p><p>She smiled a little at that. “Am I that obvious?” Ahsoka asked.</p><p>Asajj at least had the decency to pull a face. “I can see why Maul likes you. He can be rather obtuse — I’m certain the clarity of your emotions revealed through your facial expressions help him along.”</p><p>Ahsoka groaned.</p><p>“Any way you can help the man, my dear — do so. You’ll avoid argument if your position remains crystal clear. He might be a driven genius, but in other ways, he’s utterly hopeless.”</p><p>In her lap, Paul had started snoring, and Ahsoka scrubbed behind his ears in absent contemplation.</p><p>Quieter, Asajj confessed, “He’s been alone a very long time.”</p><p>Her heart gave a little squeeze at that, and turning a small, sad smile to Maul’s friend, she admitted, “Well, I hope you brought something that’s not Givenchy for me to wear, because I think I might need to make myself comfortable.”</p><p>The silence ticked a moment as the two women regarded each other, reaching the sort of mutual understanding that settled on the common point between them: Maul’s happiness. As if arriving at the same conclusion, the smile on Asajj’s face flittered away before Ahsoka could really commit it to memory. Her lips twisted a moment later, registering that “comfort” didn’t equate to “couture.”</p><p>Asajj pulled a face, rummaging around to produce a few articles. The vice around Ahsoka’s heart eased a little at the sneakers, socks, and Lycra.</p><p>“They’re Fendi,” Asajj muttered.</p><p>Ahsoka made sure not to look at the price tag on a pair of designer yoga pants, but she thanked her, and took the bundle with her to dress in the bedroom as Asajj followed her out to the door. Paul took over the warm spot on the couch.</p><p>With a parting glance, Asajj gestured vaguely in Maul’s direction.</p><p>“Tread well, Tano. A wolf among lions should always exercise caution.”</p><p>“Parting proverbs?”</p><p>Asajj arched an eyebrow. “Study up and I’ll give you a cookie for the trouble of remaining alive.” She jutted her chin down the hall. “Take care of that one while you’re at it, and I’ll give you two.”</p><p>She smirked. “I prefer chocolate chip.”</p><p>Asajj raised an eyebrow. “With a White Russian, I hope.”</p><p>The elevator swished shut on her, and Ahsoka ducked into the bedroom to change.</p><p>Minutes later, clad in leggings, a loose sweater, and comfortable sneakers, she re-emerged at the sound of a crash and a clang.</p><p>Paul darted from the couch, scrabbling across the polished concrete as fast as his little legs would carry him, running in the opposite direction of his master, who strode from his office, tearing off his tie and jacket with a snarl as he went.</p><p>“Maul?” Ahsoka asked after him, not understanding at first. He didn’t turn, his profile a rictus of bared teeth and harsh lines, hunched shoulders and barely contained fury. His jacket struck a wall, crumpling, and followed by his shirt.</p><p>The screen on his desk had reverted to its desktop, the meeting clearly adjourned.</p><p>Smashing through a doorway at the far end of the hall, Maul didn’t pause. As the door swung shut behind him, Ahsoka broke into a jog, following as Maul’s roar echoed through the walls, punctuated by the clatter of several objects striking the ground and rolling.</p><p>Barbells, she thought —</p><p>The hair on the back of her neck rose, electrified, and she followed him — unable to catch a breath as she shoved through the doors of his dojo, following him in spite of every panicked impulse that told her to run in the exact opposite direction.</p><p>
  
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>You all leaving comments and kudos are keeping this thing alive on the hard days. Thank you. &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Monkshood</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The question that remains unvoiced. Another course of action; another solution. Lord and Lady.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hat-tip to Phelfromgrace: chucking some Gingerose into the mix while we’re at it.</p>
<p>To all: permit me one self-indulgent fight scene. This is it.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>—</p>
<p>
  <b>Minutes Ago</b>
</p>
<p>—</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Flanked by Dooku and Grievous, Sheev favoured him with the sort of placid smile that might wrench a lesser man’s testicles an inch higher into their body. Unpleasant, to say the least.</p>
<p>While Maul expected he wouldn’t appreciate Palpatine’s insights, he’d presented the proposal and summarily informed them of his progress. Clinical facts, only. He’d left out the part about spending the night with his star player wrapped around him, their legs as tangled as their souls, breathing softly in the semi-dark as he soothed and kissed and made promises into her skin.</p>
<p>Thinking of Ahsoka kept him grounded.</p>
<p>Thinking of Ahsoka waiting for him while Sheev prepared to set upon him like a rabid dog kept Maul on his tether.</p>
<p>He bared his teeth in a smile.</p>
<p>“You never tire,” said Palpatine.</p>
<p>Maul offered a demure nod of agreement.</p>
<p>“I’m merely recovering lost ground in the months spent negotiating and re-negotiating the terms with Rebel Inc.”</p>
<p>“I would have thought that absent Skywalker, you’d have suspended this initiative, Maul. Surely you can see the risk in it.”</p>
<p>“Without risk there’s no reward — the medical advancements this platform would make accessible would surely warrant —“</p>
<p>“— A public relations cataclysm the likes of which would bring about Malachor Corp.’s ruin, and all of ours, should the project fail. The clinical trials alone, should this ever leak to the press — a sacrifice so volatile and great that it might spur a revolution —“</p>
<p>“We’re not so risk-averse, Sheev —”</p>
<p>“You will rescind this decision, Maul.”</p>
<p>He jerked backwards, unable to help himself. Maul didn’t flinch, for which he was at least partly grateful, but the note of finality left him bristling and desperate — the desire for Palpatine to see reason overriding his ability to remain impassive.</p>
<p>“You’d hold me back from conquering the entirety of the medical field. In your name, no less.”</p>
<p>Palpatine made a noise of disgust. Unchecked, his resolve dropped.</p>
<p>He spat, “That is the particular style of obsessive behaviour that would land you in a position so similar to Rebel Inc. former CEO.”</p>
<p>The silence that descended carried a foreboding weight to it, the threat settling with the surety of a stone in water. Strange, Maul deduced, that he’d not seen it before.</p>
<p>His palms left a smear of condensation on his desk before him, pressed to the surface out of view of the camera as he clenched and unclenched them into fists.</p>
<p>“What are you insinuating, Sheev?” he asked.</p>
<p>Palpatine’s pinch-lipped smile slithered into the promise of future discomforts for him if he did not obey. “Why, nothing, my boy. I am merely cautioning you to more prudent endeavours.”</p>
<p>Maul’s mind raced, fear turning into frenzied white noise in his ears.</p>
<p>Part of him recognized that he needed no further confirmation that Palpatine had eliminated a hiccup before it could become problem; part of him drifted to the woman who he’d endeavour to not <em>lie</em> to, recognizing that knowing more might have devastating effects for them both.</p>
<p>Anger crept in — the knowledge that he was being backed into a corner leaving him like a caged animal without another recourse save, of course, for deception.</p>
<p>Had it been the first time he’d suffered such manipulation at the hands of Sheev Palpatine, perhaps it might’ve been different. But Maul thought of his brother, Savage, and Maul thought of a childhood unburdened by expectation, and Maul thought of all that he’d endure if he continued to suffer beneath Palpatine’s thumb…</p>
<p>And Maul thought of Ahsoka, then, and how it might affect her to know what might have become of her mentor, and Maul thought of he might do if he saw her so harmed —</p>
<p>And it guttered in him like the waning light of a candle burnt to the very end of its wick.</p>
<p>“I expect you’ll heed my advice, Maul.”</p>
<p>The words hung, and Maul thought to himself, anger ticking, that when faced with two evils, he would elect to take the path least harrowing. Pity he’d been robbed of the choice.</p>
<p>Deception, then:</p>
<p>“Of course, Sheev.” He smiled, close-lipped. Maul could feel his pulse beating behind his eyes. “I’d not jeopardize what we’ve so carefully built.”</p>
<p>Fear and fury made for strange bedfellows: in truth, both emotions warring together made it feel a little as if he was being torn apart, remade into a stronger version of himself that waited in no lines, and suffered no fools, and took no prisoners.</p>
<p>“Good,” said Palpatine. “Your focus will be better redirected to more constructive pursuits, no doubt. I am eager to see what you’ll come up with.”</p>
<p>The communication ended, darkness encroaching on the periphery of his vision, his pulse hammering out what little control that remained over himself as rage swallowed him.</p>
<p>No, he’d not jeopardize Palpatine’s carefully constructed empire.</p>
<p>He’d raze it to the ground.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>—</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>Now</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>—</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The barbell rack had dented the wall from where Maul had tossed it over, sending its contents rolling across the floors. He’d stripped down to his boxer briefs, torn bits of fabric littering the path he’d taken as if to free himself of his trappings: leaving him heaving, bare, and enraged in the amber lights of a room whose mats had been laid with care.</p>
<p>At the far end of the room, she found Maul landing strike after strike after strike bare-handed on a wooden dummy that had seen better days. It shuddered with each impact, the muscles in his back and legs clenching at the repetitive motion, fury driving him to hit harder each time.</p>
<p>It was hypnotic — the precision of his movements; the violence of it.</p>
<p>Cold spread through her chest when she thought of what might’ve made him react in the way he was. He shifted stance, drawing a foot back and putting a heel through the dummy. It clattered under the force of his strike, and when that failed him, Maul beat at his own head, howling.</p>
<p>Calm stilled her, watching him as he broke down, and coming to the rapid conclusion that to get in his way might prove more revealing than any other recourse, Ahsoka acted on instinct.</p>
<p>To her right, she found a weapons rack, and snatched at the first articles that looked the least lethal, but would sting enough if she struck at him:</p>
<p>Twin rattan rods, longer than each her arms. Light as a feather. Flexible.</p>
<p>When she whipped them around, warming her wrists, they sang through the air with a little whistle.</p>
<p>Maul’s head snapped left at the sound, his shoulders heaving.</p>
<p>Something dark shrouded his gaze, twisting his features into something unrecognizable. Monstrous. An animal. He bared his teeth.</p>
<p>Her voice did not quaver. Softly, she said, “Come here.”</p>
<p>“You shouldn’t have followed me.”</p>
<p>“You shouldn’t have run,” she shot back.</p>
<p>Something ticked in his jaw, the tendons in his neck straining against muscle, his hands fists. Raw power. Rage.</p>
<p>“Ahsoka,” he said, bracing. If there was a warning in that one word, she elected to ignore it.</p>
<p>She did not fear him. She did not fear his pain.</p>
<p>“Twelve years,” she reminded him. “I studied twelve years under a master who encouraged peace and discipline, and when peace and discipline seemed out of reach, he suggested that I channel my emotions into the efforts of finding both. And I did. It took four disciplines and five martial styles, but it taught me control. It gave me strength when everything else in my life was failing.”</p>
<p>She whipped the escrima sticks into her guard position: one at her ear, one across her waist and behind her ribs.</p>
<p>“Let me help you find these things for yourself.” She glanced left at the ruined barbell rack. “Before you do something stupid.”</p>
<p>His eyes narrowed, shadows clouding his gaze. When he swallowed, his uttered, “No,“ came out too thick.</p>
<p>It seized her heart. Stubborn. A miscalculation that he might protect her from himself, she hazarded.</p>
<p>“Wrong answer.”</p>
<p>Whatever efforts it took for him to focus on her were flagging, and left to his own devices, she was uncertain what Maul would do to himself if not diverted.</p>
<p>So, naturally, Ahsoka ran at him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>—</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Ms. Tico.”</p>
<p>“Mr. Hux.”</p>
<p>A perfunctory greeting if anything, even if his features crinkled at the corners. Not in any way that was particularly warm, she thought — at least not to anyone watching as they fell into step beside each other.</p>
<p>“Just the person I was looking for,” she remarked. She held a stack of file folders before her, the last remnants of their out-dated filing system for hires and fires.</p>
<p>He glanced at it, and then back behind them. A fleeting smile passed his features, but he didn’t look away from her when he reached for the pile. “May I?”</p>
<p>She reddened, but kept her chin up. “How kind.”</p>
<p>Suppressing a snicker, he schooled his features into demure repose, the brush of his fingers against hers too swift to garner notice from anyone else, but deepening the prickle in her cheeks.</p>
<p>“I’m glad to have run into you,” he said in an undertone. “If anyone’s queries would be of interest to me, I’m sure they’d be yours.”</p>
<p>They continued down the hall, Hux carrying her folders like a schoolboy carting around her books, and Rose doing her best to make it seem like the pair of them only had the utmost professional interest in each other. Friendly. But not overly so.</p>
<p>She fluffed at her hair, straightening as they both slowed their paces, prolonging the miles-long stretch to the elevators where they’d part ways.</p>
<p>“A hypothetical question,” she said, giving him a significant look.</p>
<p>“A hypothetical answer?” he offered.</p>
<p>She reigned in a smile, raising her eyebrows. “What can you tell me about Malachor Corp.’s policies pertaining to inter-office relationships?”</p>
<p>He blinked, his smile fading somewhat. In fact, he came to a full stop, her paperwork sagging a little as he regarded her.</p>
<p>“Relationships,” he repeated.</p>
<p>If her mouth dropped open into a small “o” of surprise, she hurried to cover over it. Leaning into him, she hissed, “I have no <em>presumptions</em>.” And straightened. “Not —” Rose pulled a face, wanting to gesticulate between them. He didn’t get it immediately — and she groaned. “No,” she said a little more firmly, tipping her head. “I’m not asking about anything so — not so close to home. Not yet.”</p>
<p>Hux raised his eyebrows.</p>
<p>“<em>That’s a discussion for another time</em>,” she hissed.</p>
<p>He drew back, the fun of the game dissipating entirely and leaving him a little shell-shocked.</p>
<p>“Well. Admittedly, I was under the impression that an ordinary courtship might be a lengthier bout of wooing, but it’s not entirely unheard of —”</p>
<p>He resumed his clip, which had took on the cadence of a death march. A little frown turned down the corners of his mouth, and he eyed her askance.</p>
<p>“<em>Armitage</em>.”</p>
<p>That stopped him cold. He assessed her, arriving at the conclusion that in the span of thirty-seconds, he’d managed to lodge his foot firmly into his mouth.</p>
<p>“What are we talking about then if not —”</p>
<p>Rose pursed her lips.</p>
<p>Hux’s frown deepened. “I appear to have made a blunder. To your query —” He cleared his throat. “Special circumstances are not unheard of. Generally, it’s somewhat frowned upon between a manager and their employee, of course — a little better handled when everyone is on the same playing field, but if they exercise decorum…” He shrugged. “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”</p>
<p>He stared.</p>
<p>“Decorum, how?” she pressed.</p>
<p>“Well.” He stared off a moment. “I suppose having relations in one of the bathroom stalls over one’s lunch break is somewhat frowned upon.”</p>
<p>She hurried past him, her blush creeping to the tips of her ears.</p>
<p>“They are quite nice bathroom stalls,” he said after her.</p>
<p>Narrowing her gaze, she shot a glance over her shoulder at him. “Oh,” she said. “<em>I</em> know.”</p>
<p>Hux shook his head, a smirk threatening.</p>
<p>“At least it wasn’t a lunch break,” he said in an undertone, the hint of a smile creeping into his tone.</p>
<p>“What I’d like to clarify are the possible ramifications of a —“ She gestured.</p>
<p>“I see. And not something within the sphere of your own interests.” He nodded. “Depends on the misconduct in question.” He lifted a shoulder. “Depends on the employee and the number of pre-existing warnings on their file. We wouldn’t fire them for having a <em>sex</em> life, if that’s what you’re getting at, but we would encourage better behaviour if they were —”</p>
<p>“Caught. Right.”</p>
<p>They’d reached the elevator.</p>
<p>“Then again, the inherent risk of discovery is rather titillating.” He glanced at her. “To some.”</p>
<p>When Rose didn’t smile, Hux searched her face. “Someone you’re concerned for, I take it?”</p>
<p>“One of ours,” she admitted. “With one of yours.”</p>
<p>He huffed a laugh. “We’re all in the same kettle, Rose.”</p>
<p>He sobered at her expression.</p>
<p>“It’s consensual?”</p>
<p>She nodded quickly. “I don’t think it’s anything untoward.”</p>
<p>He considered her, hitting the button with his elbow for her floor.</p>
<p>Rose puffed a breath.</p>
<p>“It’s just not like her to --“</p>
<p>“Run around. Keep secrets from her friends. Disappear at odd hours.” He pursed his lips, rolling his eyes at their environs. “The pressures of this place are symptoms of the job, Rose. We seek comfort in the midst of chaos because it anchors us; reminds us we’re still so fucking fragile. Not the demi-gods so many think they are for doing what they do here.”</p>
<p>She squeezed her hands together. Beside them, the elevator beeped its arrival.</p>
<p>In a rush, Rose admitted, “She didn’t come home last night.”</p>
<p>Hux’s eyebrows shot up, surprise unhinging his jaw. “<em>Oh</em>.”</p>
<p>Snatching at his elbow, she pulled him into the elevator with her. He didn’t even glance at how he’d been rerouted, only trying to better parse the information.</p>
<p>“She barely texted to say she was alright this morning.”</p>
<p>“<em>Tano</em>?”</p>
<p>“Shhhhhhh!” Rose slugged him in the arm, and Hux yowled.</p>
<p>She collected her file folders back from him in a rush, slapping at the button for her desired floor and giving him a look of warning that made him shrink back.</p>
<p>“You cannot say <em>anything</em>. You cannot even <em>hint</em> at it.”</p>
<p>He scrunched his face as if he’d smelled something off. “With a Malachor Corp. employee? But whom? And she’s <em>new</em> to her position too —”</p>
<p>Rose pointed at him in warning.</p>
<p>He shrugged, differential. “I won’t say anything, but aren’t you in the least bit curious?”</p>
<p>Her eyebrows shot up.</p>
<p>“Oh,” he chucked. “Oh, you’re <em>recruiting</em> me. Tico, you might’ve been more direct. We’ve shared so much already —”</p>
<p>Her expression didn’t change.</p>
<p>“Not. One. Word.”</p>
<p>He lifted a shoulder, his hands slipping into his pockets as the elevator dinged.</p>
<p>“Then however will I get the information you so greatly desire.” A brief smile, an altogether too-brief kiss to her cheek, and Hux winked as the doors opened.</p>
<p>She glared, pointed. “Discreetly.”</p>
<p>A smug grin graced his features, but Rose held her ground.</p>
<p>“I’ll unleash the hounds, my dear. You’ll have your answers in no time.”</p>
<p>She stared at him a beat longer, worrying over something — a hint of mischief creeping back into her gaze as she gave him an assessing once-over. “Later?”</p>
<p>He jut his chin at her. “Third floor restroom. Three p.m.” A sly smile. “Coffee break.”</p>
<p>The doors shut on Hux’s smirk as Rose left him, her steps hurried once more.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>—</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In some distant, deep part of him, a twinkle of surprise registered at the way Ahsoka flipped the kali sticks behind her against her forearms — like twin daggers instead of wood, meant to be stabbed and sheared with rather than their intended purpose: slashing and striking at one’s foes.</p>
<p>She favoured two batons to one, but that too was a matter of calculation and assessment.</p>
<p>The forefront of his brain had yet to embrace the fact that his lover was sprinting at him with the intent to treat him to some sort of lesson, too embroiled in his anger towards Sidious to truly process the glory of her movements — the look of determination and focus that she wore, barrelling towards him like an avenging goddess, her flight extending her strides, allowing her to defy gravity for just a moment as she descended on him.</p>
<p>Another voice entirely processed that he ought to yield to her to prevent her from getting hurt, but it took all of two seconds to understand that if he failed to defend himself, she would crack him squarely with those weapons. <em>His</em> weapons.</p>
<p>Maul knew for a fact that regardless the force behind the strike, the kali sticks were agony against naked skin: a mile of which he bared to her like penitence for sins he’d not yet committed.</p>
<p>He leapt, darting left on instinct, reason and rage abandoned for self-preservation, and snatched at the staff that leaned across the nearest rack, spinning it over his shoulders as Ahsoka’s strike caught him — hard enough to rattle through his hands, juddering his bones in their sockets and bowing him beneath her.</p>
<p>Glorious.</p>
<p>Surprise registered, but she slashed the kali sticks from his staff, and with it, forced him backwards in a dance of paces to avoid having his knuckles clipped.</p>
<p>She had strength.</p>
<p>She had skill that he’d clearly underestimated.</p>
<p>A small smile twisted her lips at the corners as she stalked him, allowing him purchase of the tatami mats, circling to the centre of the room.</p>
<p>“Thank you,” she said.</p>
<p>He frowned. “What for?”</p>
<p>“Changing your focus a moment.”</p>
<p>“Rage is not my master,” he said too carefully, his pulse beating in his temples, still.</p>
<p>“Could have fooled me,” she shot back.</p>
<p>He shook his head, trying to gain clarity. Rage gave him clarity. Rage sat at odds with what he felt for the woman before him. But Palpatine would sooner destroy him than set him free —</p>
<p>Maul bared his teeth. Anger would claw its way out of him, one way or another.</p>
<p>“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, though the sudden possibility that she might hurt <em>him</em> set his heart hammering — not with nerves, but… The anger was still there, but it was edged with a particular sort of interest that lit other parts of his body with an awareness of the way she moved.</p>
<p>Those clear blue eyes narrowed a fraction. “Would you like to establish a safe word before we begin?”</p>
<p>His mouth went dry in anticipation. Muscles tensing, he sank low into a stance to better centre himself. Maul spread his grip, one-handed on his staff, and spun it over his knuckles, snapping it to his palm as if testing her — to see if she might flinch.</p>
<p>She didn’t.</p>
<p>Asajj had outfitted her with a pair of leggings that revealed every lean line and every curve of her legs, and as she sank into horse stance, her heels wide and steady, her guard braced for the attack — Maul knew that Ahsoka would not show him any quarter.</p>
<p>He breathed, “<em>Pineapple</em>.”</p>
<p>She smiled at him as she struck.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>—</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The surprise that lit Maul’s face was almost worth nearly taking a defensive swipe in the side as she loosed her guard, slashing at him in a rattle of moves that dove under his blocks, pushing him backward. Fast. Faster so that he couldn’t find a break in her sinawali.</p>
<p>She pummelled him backward, the speed of her strikes gathering momentum as he blocked with his bo:</p>
<p>A poor choice of defence. He’d have been better with two sticks of his own.</p>
<p>Maul bared his teeth, jammed his staff into her guard, and shoved —</p>
<p>Ahsoka leapt backwards, the force of his parry leaving her scrabbling against the mat.</p>
<p>“You’ve some skill,” he said, breathing hard.</p>
<p>Clarity in his gaze, she noted — sharpened focus, pupils blown wide with interest and surprise. A vein thrummed in his neck, still; the results of a conversation that surely hadn’t ended in his favour with the Board.</p>
<p>He snapped his bo to his side, bringing it before him to crack away at her stick.</p>
<p>She deflected, the stick in her left hand reversed around her neck and cracking it into his jab — a warning.</p>
<p>“I’m not even trying yet.”</p>
<p>She wound it up, smirking as she fell back into form, her guard back in place.</p>
<p>“Who taught you escrima?” he asked, pacing around her.</p>
<p>The heave of his chest was hypnotic in its own way, and watching him, she could see him calculating where she was at her weakest. Clever, she thought — she’d have assessed him as an opponent in the same way if he wasn’t so guarded.</p>
<p>That the man had no tells left her heart pounding in anticipation — the best sort. If he fought unpredictably, she’d have her hands full. If Maul gave her his all… well, there were only few better ways of diverting themselves that were as strenuous, but she could only think of one other activity they’d shared that was as stimulating.</p>
<p>“The same man who taught me everything else,” she said with a smirk. “Anakin Skywalker.”</p>
<p>He raised his eyebrow, chuffing, “Doubtless you were an apt pupil, but he did not teach you everything.”</p>
<p>The blow slipped through her guard, shaving off her sticks as he lunged. She rapped back at him, catching his staff in the crux as he leaned in to her. Too close.</p>
<p>“You’re strong, my Lady. Your forms are perfect. But clearly, you’ve never been required to fight dirty.”</p>
<p>Shoving back, she pushed him into a defensive stance, their weapons locked. Neither quaked. Neither backed down.</p>
<p>She grit her teeth in a grin. “Doubtless, you’d endeavour to contribute to my education, my Lord.”</p>
<p>His grin was laced with something dangerous. “I think I might like that, Lady Tano.”</p>
<p>He pushed in towards her, the heat of his body distracting.</p>
<p>She refocused, remembering what had brought them to this juncture as he took her in, their weapons still locked.</p>
<p>“Do you want to tell me what happened in that meeting, or do I have to beat it out of you?”</p>
<p>A dark look crossed his features, and he spun into her guard, knocking the left stick to the side of the room, as if that were answer enough.</p>
<p>She cracked at his side, catching his staff as he pushed her back — snapping hand over hand until he rammed her with it, and Ahsoka, braced against him, bore down. Her arms shook with the force of it.</p>
<p>“Whatever it was that set you off,” she said. “I can help you.”</p>
<p>Maul leaned over their trapped weapons and into her face. His gaze dropped to her mouth, and her heart kicked into a gallop.</p>
<p>“You’re already helping me,” he breathed.</p>
<p>She shook her head, leaning into him so that her words puffed against his face. She relished seeing the slight tremor in his arms, braced against her.</p>
<p>“No,” she said. “You’re still angry, and you’re not coming at me hard enough.”</p>
<p>He bared his teeth. She smiled, and swept his leg out with her shin.</p>
<p>Maul crashed down, rolling away under the snap of the stick as she brought it down where he’d fallen. He caught her behind the knee, jamming his foot in the exact place to send her toppling. Ahsoka hit the mat, and he was on top of her, his staff angled for her throat. The rattan stick bowed under his weight.</p>
<p>His thighs brushed hers, and she chuckled.</p>
<p>“You can’t hold this forever,” he purred.</p>
<p>Her arms burned, the weight of him held above her becoming tremulous. If she released him, he could crush her throat.</p>
<p>“You’re avoiding the problem,” she returned.</p>
<p>Maul bared his teeth.</p>
<p>“I am <em>processing</em> it.”</p>
<p>She tipped her chin up, examining him from close-up and finding a little vein pulsing in his temple. He was right, though — supporting his weight was becoming taxing.</p>
<p>He knew it too. Something cleared in his gaze, looking her over with some shrewd challenge.</p>
<p>“Break the illusion of your limitations and disable me,” he breathed, his gaze falling to her mouth.</p>
<p>Ahsoka lifted up, raising herself enough to lick a careful line along his jaw.</p>
<p>Maul’s expression darkened, his breathing heavy.</p>
<p>“I can fight dirty,” she countered, and rammed him off of her from the hip so that he sprawled onto his back, rocking that staff up to fend her off, a half second too late.</p>
<p>She launched atop him, his own staff becoming a trap against his chest. He grunted from the contact as she slid into his lap, her elbows pinning him down with his own weapon.</p>
<p>Smirking, she regarded him through lidded eyes.</p>
<p>“You’re not even trying.”</p>
<p>Maul frowned, removing one hand from his bo gingerly. He brushed a thumb across her cheek, cupping her face, and then her neck as he sighed.</p>
<p>“You’re right.”</p>
<p>Ahsoka’s back slapped the mat, their legs tangled, the stick forgotten as he slanted them over again. She made a noise of surprise, finding her head snapping back at the force of it, and she jabbed upward, missing his throat by an inch as he reared back and tacked her down. Ahsoka put her knee into his side as they grappled, Maul’s weight an advantage, and she shoved him backwards with both feet.</p>
<p>She arced upwards with her hips, her legs shooting up and snapping herself back to her feet in a crouch. Claw-fisted, she regarded him from a grappling stance — something from her younger days. </p>
<p>Her last stick clattered away, out of reach.</p>
<p>On his knees, two fists against the ground, breathing hard, he chuckled.</p>
<p>“<em>Wushu</em>. That’s better.”</p>
<p>She narrowed her eyes. “Still dodging. Give me a hint, at least.”</p>
<p>Maul bowed his head, shoving himself to his knees. “Your master trained you well,” he said instead, rolling back to his heels and rising to full height. Cracking his neck, he regarded her with newfound appreciation. “He taught you to show no quarter.”</p>
<p>She didn’t move. Knowing his penchant for distraction, Ahsoka held her guard.</p>
<p>“He taught me to defy the odds. Sometimes the lack of convention leant to the best solutions.”</p>
<p>Maul stalked away, his gaze never leaving hers. Something shadowed skirted in his expression — calculating, assessing.</p>
<p>“Interesting,” he remarked.</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“You’re careful not to betray your true feelings on the matter. You’re very good.”</p>
<p>She searched him, her guard slipping only a fraction. The brief, heavy swell of emotion lit her from within. “My whole life, Anakin was there --“ she said, frowning. She shook her head, pushing it aside.</p>
<p>“I’ve angered you.”</p>
<p>No. She was angry with herself for allowing herself to sink into it a little too deeply. Inhaling calm, Ahsoka pushed the breath from her lungs and levelled her stare on him once more.</p>
<p>It wasn’t his fault. Maul didn’t know what kept her preoccupied; didn’t know what kept her up at nights, searching the internet, setting google alerts and trace-records for anomalies that might pin-point Anakin’s whereabouts.</p>
<p>Darker, still.</p>
<p>He was trying to dismantle her carefully constructed control to distract her.</p>
<p>That flash of teeth again that passed for a smile —</p>
<p>Oh, but Maul was good.</p>
<p>She jut her chin at him. “More?”</p>
<p>He only shook his head, that smile growing dangerous. “I didn’t say ‘pineapple’.”</p>
<p>They beat it for the weapons rack, Ahsoka gasping as he grabbed her, spinning her with him as they both diverted to the mat once more, hands empty save for each other.</p>
<p>He ducked his head, getting right into her line of sight. Concern marked him, the laughter of his teasing gone.</p>
<p>Quietly, he asked, “Do you need… more… Lady Tano?”</p>
<p>Her heart slammed her ribs, her limbs aching from the exertion, but she made fists of her hands against the small of his back.</p>
<p>Moving into her, Maul’s hips pressed to hers, his hands cupping her face — thumbs brushing her cheeks.</p>
<p>“Too much, I fear — too deep —“</p>
<p>“No.”</p>
<p>She drew a breath.</p>
<p>“Yes.”</p>
<p>Relief lifted his gaze to hers.</p>
<p>“Yes,” she said again, frustrated.</p>
<p>“Forgive me, I wanted you to understand by demonstration what it’s so often like dealing with my Board of Directors: never a straight answer. Never a respite from the constant possibility that your position is jeopardized.”</p>
<p>Maul’s grin pressed against her lower lip, cutting a little, but not enough to draw blood as he captured her mouth.</p>
<p>She made a surprised noise of hunger as they both slowed, her arms wrapping his shoulders as he pressed into her with his kiss, seeking her tongue. Her nails raked into his back — sudden, desperate. Angry?</p>
<p>“There are other ways to exert ourselves,” he said in a rumble, but she pushed him off.</p>
<p>Thoughts of Anakin’s disappearance lingered; a ghost not yet ready to stop haunting her.</p>
<p>“Not yet.”</p>
<p>Wiping her mouth, Ahsoka regarded him with newfound interest:</p>
<p>“Are you playing with me, Lord Maul?”</p>
<p>He smoothed those long fingers down his torso, eyes glittering.</p>
<p>“Would you like me to?”</p>
<p>Everything in her tightened at that, the frustration she felt speeding away to be replaced with her hammering heartbeat as the game changed, turning a little more sinister.</p>
<p>Ahsoka chuckled as she fell back into mantis, her weight easing to her rear leg, arms raised to strike, her front toe barely grazing the ground.</p>
<p>“Perhaps we might help each other?” he offered. “Divert ourselves; expunge these… frustrations.”</p>
<p>He rolled his shoulders, thumbing his lower lip, and dropped into horse stance before her, hands curled into tiger claw.</p>
<p>“This should prove interesting.”</p>
<p>Did he like fighting her as much as he liked fucking her, she wondered? Her limbs loosened, realization dawning:</p>
<p>She definitely did.</p>
<p>“We didn’t bow,” Ahsoka cautioned.</p>
<p>He jut his chin. “Would you show the back of your neck to an opponent poised to cut off your head?”</p>
<p>“Fair point.”</p>
<p>She lunged, and he countered, their arms clipping each other and sliding off as he looped upwards and she went to the side.</p>
<p>The movement was fast, the strike hard, and Ahsoka’s jab took a point from his ribs with a “Ha!” of triumph.</p>
<p>Maul danced backwards. She sank back to her crouch in wait.</p>
<p>“I’d not thought you’d have an affinity for mantis.”</p>
<p>He bared his teeth. She’d hit him hard, but the appreciation he showed her lit with something else: appreciation. He could <em>see</em> her again, she thought — not only the haze of his anger.</p>
<p>It eased her somewhat to know it.</p>
<p>Cooler, now: “Anakin thought it would teach me subtlety. Decorum.”</p>
<p>“Were you wild as a child?” he asked.</p>
<p>She flashed teeth. “I was reckless.”</p>
<p>He lunged at her and struck, but her counter danced her backwards in defence, ducking under the sweep of his arm. She spun, her heel glancing off his thigh, but Maul had anticipated it, and leapt clear — legs kicking to the air and landing behind her. Ahsoka spun, but he caught her waist — a dance measured in how quickly her elbow could snap him in the jaw.</p>
<p>He parried. She spun out and down, and his fist grazed her cheek before she reached upwards for his elbow, leading him as she ducked out and under his grasp.</p>
<p>There as a certain grace to a dance belonging to two predators — their movements swift, the slap of wrists and forearms edged with a stinging sort of fluidity. Furiously quick, the interlocking limbs winding faster together.</p>
<p>Ahsoka took another point from his side, but Maul retaliated too quickly, clipping her finally with a jab to the soft flesh over her hip. She buckled, staggering two steps, and he appeared to recognize what he’d done —</p>
<p>He gasped, “My lady --“</p>
<p>And Ahsoka popped him in the sternum just as fast, sealing it with a lash of her foot that took him in the shoulder.</p>
<p>Maul dropped, his hand on his heart, down on one knee, and barked a sharp laugh.</p>
<p>“<em>Fuck</em>,” she swore, laughing, her side stinging.</p>
<p>“Thank you for not hesitating,” he chuckled. “<em>No</em> thank you for your sharp little fingers.”</p>
<p>“At least I didn’t aim for your throat.”</p>
<p>“Or my eyes,” he laughed.</p>
<p>She held out a hand, rubbing at her side, and he reached for her, drawing him towards her, moving her hand away from her hip.</p>
<p>“All right?”</p>
<p>She hissed as he pushed her top up.</p>
<p>“It was a good hit,” she admitted.</p>
<p>“Ice,” he muttered, rubbing her hip, his hands soothing, palming her without a second thought. Maul blew out a breath, hushing over the point of contact.</p>
<p>She sighed, a hand settling on his shoulder. “Or you can just kiss it better?”</p>
<p>He rubbed his chest, wincing as he drew her to him, obliging her as his fingers sank to cup her ass. Maul shut his eyes, his mouth lingering on her flesh as her fingers found the back of his head to hold him there. Both breathed hard.</p>
<p>“Thank you, my Lady. Doubtless I needed to have the sense knocked back into me somewhat.”</p>
<p>“Somewhat,” she echoed. “You scared the shit out of Paul.”</p>
<p>He’d scared the shit out of her.</p>
<p>“Mmph,” he said into her belly. “Paul’s the anthesis of all guard dogs.”</p>
<p>He settled the shirt back over her midsection, rising to hover before her. Concern marked him. “I was trying not to <em>hurt</em> you,” he muttered, his palms trailing up and down her back, tucking her into his hard planes with more care than she needed.</p>
<p>She scoffed, touching the spot between his pectorals with ginger fingers.</p>
<p>“Don’t walk away next time.”</p>
<p>“Mmmph,” he tipped her chin up. “You’re too persistent.”</p>
<p>His hands sank into her hair, drawing her mouth to his.</p>
<p>She agreed against his lips, “Dogged. Though I do appreciate the fact that you’re not wearing any pants.”</p>
<p>He smiled into the kiss, still breathing hard, one hand caught between their bodies where it rested on his heart.</p>
<p>She drew back an inch when he leaned forward, his breath ghosting against her lips. Lids lowered, her gaze flicked from whatever darker contemplations lingered behind those gold eyes, and his mouth.</p>
<p>“Again?” she asked.</p>
<p>“My dear, I am trying my best to distract you from pursuing a line of questioning I don’t yet know how to answer.”</p>
<p>She choked on a laugh. “Took you long enough to admit to it.”</p>
<p>He smiled against her mouth. “May I kiss you now?” Maul purred.</p>
<p>“On the condition that you tell me what it is that set you off.”</p>
<p>Breathing a sigh, Maul sank his forehead to hers, squeezing his eyes shut.</p>
<p>“The board rejected my proposal for the anti-virus application.” He opened his eyes once more.</p>
<p>Oh.</p>
<p><em>Oh</em>.</p>
<p>Maul searched her gaze. Her disappointment must have showed, because he continued, “Palpatine thinks it will present a liability at clinical tests, and if it fails, the ramifications will prove disastrous for the company.” He darkened. “I find his lack of faith disturbing.”</p>
<p>She sank back, shifting her feelings around. Breathing a sigh, she muttered, “Well that’s unfortunate. There are enough people here that I would think a smaller cell working on experimental product solutions might fly under the radar.” She lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug. “Especially since we already have the codebase. And your prototype.”</p>
<p>Maul drew back an inch, frowning at her. “Interesting.”</p>
<p>She chewed the inside of her cheek. “I thought your proposal was ‘<em>iiiinteresting</em>’,” she mocked.</p>
<p>He narrowed his eyes. “Is this the scrappy start-up approach I was warned of?”</p>
<p>She offered him a small purse of her lips. “You’re the boss, boss. I’m just looking for the — what do you call it? The low-hanging fruit?”</p>
<p>He snorted. “Don’t ever let me hear you say those words in that particular configuration again. Bloody salesfloor nonsense.”</p>
<p>“So?” She asked, drawing away another inch as he leaned in. “What do you think?”</p>
<p>He sucked in a breath, a small smile playing about his mouth. “I think you like playing a dangerous game, Lady Tano. I can appreciate that — almost as much as I appreciate your willingness to tangle with the bigger sharks in the pond.”</p>
<p>She lifted her arms as he pulled her sweater over her head, tossing it to the tatami mat behind them as he sank down to kiss her throat.</p>
<p>“If the fish is small enough to go unnoticed —“</p>
<p>He hmmed his interest, carefully quiet.</p>
<p>Breath hitching, Ahsoka forced out, “Anakin encouraged me to be resourceful.”</p>
<p>Maul stilled. “And you are. I imagine you made him very proud.”</p>
<p>Her eyes fluttered shut at that, rolling it around.</p>
<p>Proud enough to abandon her, sure. Proud enough to know she’d make it on her own, without him.</p>
<p>She tucked away the bubble of anger that threatened again. Later, Ahsoka thought.</p>
<p>“I knew that you were his protege, but I was unaware you were so close,” said Maul.</p>
<p>She offered a small, sad frown. She shrugged one-shouldered. “He took me under his wing when I was just a girl. Helped me out of a rough patch, and encouraged my abilities.”</p>
<p>He searched her gaze.</p>
<p>“He was a <em>good</em> mentor. Albeit a little unorthodox in his approach.”</p>
<p>“Ahsoka, from what I gather, he was offered a sizeable sum for his portion of the company,” he said carefully. “The particulars are regrettably out of my grasp, but I what I do know is that when the Board wants is the authority to make the final call on who they retain. There must be a singular vision.”</p>
<p>She nodded, and gave him a half-hearted smile. “I understand. They wanted the property but not the problem.”</p>
<p>His frown deepened.</p>
<p>“Trust me,” she said with a scoff. “I <em>know</em> what Anakin was like. I just —“ Her attention drifted. “I just wish I knew where he went afterwards. It’s like he vanished.”</p>
<p>Quiet, assessing, he regarded her. “What would you have me do, my Lady?”</p>
<p>If there was something subdued about his resignation, it sped into the lines of his frown.</p>
<p>Ahsoka sighed into his touch, offering him a slight smile.</p>
<p>“Enable me to make something of the legacy he’s left us?”</p>
<p>Something eased in him at that.</p>
<p>Maul caressed her from waist to bottom, smoothing his hands into the cleft of her ass and giving it a little squeeze as he admired everything tucked against him.</p>
<p>“You want the project,” he surmised.</p>
<p>“I want the project.”</p>
<p>“I appreciate your confidence.”</p>
<p>“I appreciate yours.”</p>
<p>He touched her face — little more than a brush of fingers. Tender, as if to check if she were real.</p>
<p>“I’ll need to clear it with Obi-Wan, but —“</p>
<p>He hmmed his understanding.</p>
<p>“This may yet be our little secret,” he murmured, his lips brushing hers.</p>
<p>As she parted for him, as she breathed, “Yes.”</p>
<p>In response, Maul eased his tongue against hers, tasting her with heavy breaths and a slow, curious cadence that lit her body to the easy way that they fit together.</p>
<p>Withdrawing, he murmured, “Let’s tangle in other ways.” Maul’s hand snaked around her waist, drawing her into him. He kissed her again, and warmth spread through her middle at the surety of that one gesture.</p>
<p>He found the lobe of her ear, pulling it between his teeth as she buckled against him.</p>
<p>“That’s a good plan,” she breathed, her eyes falling shut.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>—</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In the mirror behind her, Maul stared back at his own reflection a beat, Ahsoka’s sighs rapturous in the ease with which she succumbed to his persuasion. Trusting him to care for her despite the tussle; giving herself to him with the sort of ease he’d never allowed himself to dream of.</p>
<p>She sighed, so supple in the way she folded herself to him. He wrapped her to his body, indulgent and meandering in his caresses, and pushed back that deep well of darkness that threatened to bubble up once more.</p>
<p>How had Anakin Skywalker been persuaded, he wondered?</p>
<p>How had he been dispatched?</p>
<p>A contemplation for another time, perhaps — an investigation meant for his associates who possessed those particular skills.</p>
<p>He’d given Ahsoka a truth, he reasoned. He’d given her as much as he knew himself.</p>
<p>Anything further was mere speculation, and there was no sense in fretting over possibilities that couldn’t be proven, especially if they might skew her focus.</p>
<p>“Maul,” Ahsoka breathed, and he pulled himself back from that ledge once more, thinking not of the consequences of failure, only the possibility of having everything he ever truly wanted in his grasp, and with her at his side.</p>
<p>“Lady Tano,” he said, and kissed her again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>—</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Maul broke from her, his gaze resting somewhere over her shoulder. With his interest pressing into her hip, she turned to look over her shoulder at whatever had snagged his attention.</p>
<p>He met her gaze in the mirror, a slow smile spreading as his hands slipped down her back to cup her bottom. Sucking in a tiny breath as he squeezed her ass, he said into her temple, “Watch.”</p>
<p>It struck like a plumb — desire sinking fast and warm through her body.</p>
<p>With a shaky breath, Ahsoka dragged her gaze from his face, over her shoulder and back to the mirror where she could see his hands slipping over the tops of her thighs, up to her bottom, and then to her waist where he drew her shirt up to reveal two inches of skin.</p>
<p>“You’ve such a lovely arse,” he said, kneading the flesh with a squeeze that parted her legs for him just enough to cup her from behind, drawing her back into a little arch.</p>
<p>Maul made an appreciative noise at the sight.</p>
<p>“Come along, dear,” he murmured, turning back to her. “I’ve an idea.”</p>
<p>He took her hand, beckoning her with him with a small smile weighted with mischief. He drew her before him, his fingers feathering down the skin of her arms as he set her before the mirror.</p>
<p>Maul met her gaze in their shared reflection, pressing a kiss to her throat.</p>
<p>“Would you like to watch?” he murmured against her skin.</p>
<p>A shivery thrill ran through her at that, his hands tracing a course from her elbows to her ribs, lifting her arms to set them around his neck as he dragged his knuckles down her side and back to the hem of her shirt, easing his hands beneath the fabric.</p>
<p>Ahsoka puffed a small, strangled breath at the look he fixed her with — gold eyes watching her expression in the low light of the dojo as he peeled the tank top over her skin, rolling off her sports bra off with it. It struck the floor with a muffled whumpf.</p>
<p>Cupping her breasts, Maul stepped into her more fully to support her against his chest. With both nipples rolled lightly between his thumbs and forefingers, Ahsoka sighed.</p>
<p>“That’s nice.”</p>
<p>He kissed her cheek, the warmth of his touch lighting a fire low in her belly.</p>
<p>“Look at me, love,” he breathed. “Don’t be shy.”</p>
<p>His thumbs hooked into the waistband of her pants, drawing her leggings down her legs, his touch soothing over her thighs. Maul pressed his cheek to hers, his ministrations gentle as he touched her, raising goosebumps. A little moisture slicked the insides of her thighs, and brushing her sex she pressed back into his lap to encourage him.</p>
<p>“I like seeing your eyes flutter shut,” he murmured. “I like seeing your lips part when I’ve touched you in a way that you particularly like.” He grazed the swell of her breast. “I like seeing your nipples pebble for me when I tease you. But what I’m most curious of is how sweet and wet your pussy gets for me when I let you —” He brushed her lips with his thumb. “Suck my cock.”</p>
<p>Her heart slammed against her ribs, her breaths getting shorter. Nerves and excitement became a heady cocktail.</p>
<p>“Would you like that?”</p>
<p>His teeth razed her ear, his breath leaving her shivering. Those gold eyes bronzed with something shadowed — lust darkening him. Ahsoka could feel him hard and ready against her back, his control over her body such that while she’d demonstrated she could fully kick his ass, it was another thing altogether to allow each other this little game.</p>
<p>Warmth pooled low in her belly, sinking fast to leave her legs uncertain of her weight.</p>
<p>Maul’s fingers grazed her sex with little more than a brush of the tips of his fingers, but everything inside her pulled taught at the prospect of more.</p>
<p>Ahsoka shivered. Nodded — the briefest dip of her head.</p>
<p>Thinking about it left her mouth watering.</p>
<p>His tightened his arm around her.</p>
<p>“I could think of no better honour,” he whispered. “Than to see you on your knees before me.”</p>
<p>Unable to help it any longer, she whimpered.</p>
<p>He stilled, cupping her face, drawing her around to look at him.</p>
<p>“Too much?” he murmured, all pretence forgotten where concern won-out.</p>
<p>Hoarse with need, she shook her head vehemently, and croaked, “If you keep this up, I’m not going to last.”</p>
<p>He searched her, recognition dawning.</p>
<p>Maul kissed her softly, tentatively to be certain.</p>
<p>She clung to him, uncertain if her legs would hold her much longer.</p>
<p>“Do you like it when I direct you, my Lady?” he purred, slipping his fingers between her legs. A small, knowing smile as her eyes fluttered shut and whimpered. “I think you do.”</p>
<p>“Maul —”</p>
<p>He smoothed a hand down her front, sighing as he touched the bud of her sex gently, the pads of his fingers exploring the soft warmth of her arousal, wetting his fingers with it, the slightest bit of friction as he glided against her leaving her gasping.</p>
<p>“A little longer, my Lady. Can you endure?”</p>
<p>She nodded, wanting to be good. Wanting to give him exactly what he asked of her.</p>
<p>He dragged that hand up her belly, between her breasts and to her mouth.</p>
<p>“Open for me.”</p>
<p>She did as he asked with a sigh, and carefully, he traced her lips, easing his fingers into her mouth and against her tongue.</p>
<p>“Show me what you’re going to do to my cock with that lovely mouth of yours,” he breathed.</p>
<p>Ahsoka made a noise — somewhere between surprise and pleasure — and closed her lips around him, tasting a little of herself on his fingers.</p>
<p>His groan reverberated through her back where he supported her, his other arm wrapped at her waist, his other hand cupping her sex.</p>
<p>Warmth suffused her, her breathing ragged, she folded her tongue around his fingers, and sucked just a little, liking the way he wrapped himself around her body — liking especially the way those darkened eyes watched her mouth so attentively in the mirror.</p>
<p>He squeezed her cunt in appreciation. Harshly, into her ear, he murmured, “Suck my fingers for me, Ahsoka. Lick them clean.”</p>
<p>Her eyes fell shut at Maul’s groan of pleasure as they sank together to the floor. She turned to face him, on her knees between his legs, and leaned into him, chasing his digits as she swallowed on his fingers.</p>
<p>His mouth fell open into a little ‘o’ of surprise as she obliged him, gripping his wrist and pulling off his digits. She lapped at them, taking them to the knuckle and removing them from her mouth with a little <em>pop! </em>that made Maul hiss.</p>
<p>“Like this?” she asked, all innocence.</p>
<p>The noise he made in the back of his throat spurred her onwards, his surprise at how eager she was to please him encouraging her to spread her knees wider, lifting her hips into the air so that in the mirror behind her, Maul could see… everything.</p>
<p>She followed his gaze, peeking over her shoulder to wink at his reflection.</p>
<p>A warning: “Lady Tano.”</p>
<p>She smiled at the strangled sound of surprise he made when he said her name.</p>
<p>“My Lord,” she said, turning back to him to strip him of his boxer-briefs, giving him a little shove so that he fell back to his elbows. “Must I say please this time too?”</p>
<p>“Please, what?” he huffed, his eyes blown wide.</p>
<p>She pursed her lips, and with a final glance over her shoulder — meeting his eyes and giving him the best view that she could as she bent over him — she tipped her ass into the air, reaching back to smooth a hand down her thigh. She gave herself a little squeeze, and smoothed it out for him.</p>
<p>“Please enjoy the view,” she murmured.</p>
<p>He groaned in surprise and pleasure.</p>
<p>His cock bobbed below her, her hand settled on the dark patch of hair just above it. Ahsoka traced her fingers through the scrub, finding his muscles hard beneath her hands, pre-come daubed at the tip in anticipation. Her mouth watered.</p>
<p>Hers, she thought. Hers to do with as she pleased. The thought twisted something tighter inside her, an ache that throbbed for the need of him elsewhere.</p>
<p>She’d been sincere, though: any more dirty talk about dicks might’ve made her come. She needed to divert him in other ways.</p>
<p>Ahsoka took a breath. Oh, but the look on his face as she dragged her nails down the muscles in his thighs was <em>something</em> — one part eager apprehension, and one part distraction. His gaze fell to a point beyond her hip, admiring her reflection.</p>
<p>She slipped a hand between her legs, two fingers parting her folds for him.</p>
<p>His breath caught.</p>
<p>“May I touch myself, Maul?”</p>
<p>He stiffened, his muscles gone rigid beneath her hands.</p>
<p>“Please,” he breathed.</p>
<p>She shuddered, offering only a long-searching stare over her shoulder. The stark hunger in his gaze wound her tighter around her own fingers as she slipped inside herself and out to run circles around her clit.</p>
<p>“Good girl,” he managed. “Do that once more for me.”</p>
<p>She obliged, delving inside herself once more with a little sigh.</p>
<p>Turning back to him, she said, “My Lord, I’m going to suck your cock now. Whether you give me permission or not.”</p>
<p>And with a pointed look at his shocked expression, she did him the favour of slapping her own ass for him, leaving a streak of wetness against her skin that she <em>knew</em> he took note of in the mirror.</p>
<p>“Oh, bollocks —” he managed, but Ahsoka had gripped him at the base, laving a slick, wet line of saliva from his root to tip. Maul choked, all sound and breath snuffed as she licked her lips.</p>
<p>Flicking her gaze up to him, she murmured, “You taste good, Maul.”</p>
<p>And she sank her mouth around him, using her tongue to ease him deep.</p>
<p>He arched upward, his mouth open in a little “o” of surprise, and grunting, reached for the side of her face in a caress, and when his strength failed him, made a fist to strike at the ground.</p>
<p>Ahsoka rose up over him, swirling her tongue around the head, and spat into her palm.</p>
<p>“Oh fuck,” he said as she wrapped him, closing the gap between her fingers and any exposed skin with her mouth, and <em>sucked</em>. A little pressure only, at first — enough to make him buck from the hips. She held him down, starting to pump with her fist, the movement flowing to her mouth.</p>
<p>Sweet and thick against her tongue, his flexing thighs made it worth it to graze the back of her throat. She breathed through her nose, swallowing him deeper, pressure and suction building into a seal between her mouth and his skin.</p>
<p>“That’s — that’s it,” he praised her, stammering. “Oh, I like that. Oh, <em>Ahsoka</em>.”</p>
<p>She withdrew, licking at his head, her fist continuing its rhythm.</p>
<p>She wiped her mouth against his leg, and glanced to find those gorgeous gold eyes fixed on her face.</p>
<p>“You said you wanted to see what this was doing to me.”</p>
<p>“My dear — your arousal is painting your legs so prettily, how could I help myself — <em>oh</em> —”</p>
<p>She slipped two digits into herself once more, kneading her palm into her clit. Tossing her hair to the side, she watched as his gaze drifted to their reflection in the mirror.</p>
<p>“I want you inside me,” she said to him, her rhythm unrelenting. She licked his head into her mouth, sliding him down in swallows.</p>
<p>“Keep touching yourself,” he said hoarsely. “Don’t you dare stop.”</p>
<p>He bared his teeth, his eyes fluttering shut a moment as he groaned.</p>
<p>“Bloody magical mouth you have, woman —“</p>
<p>She gulped a breath, and he <em>moaned</em>.</p>
<p>Clenching on herself, her eyes fluttering shut, she eased back, and took him deeper in a breath.</p>
<p>His legs twitched beneath her as she added a little twist to the rhythm she’d set, wrapping her tongue around his length as she exhaled and sank him towards the back of her throat another half inch.</p>
<p>“My Lady,” he gasped.</p>
<p>Her nose brushed the thatch of hair, her knuckles in the way.</p>
<p>“Ahsoka,” he said in warning. “<em>Fuck</em>.”</p>
<p>Oh, but he tasted good. Like silk against her tongue with a hint of musk, warm skin, trembling fingers touching her cheek with reverence.</p>
<p>Full of him, she purred, and with a gasp, Maul pulled her off of him. Ahsoka gasped a breath, finding him leaking and moving back to capture a drop of pre-come with the tip of her tongue.</p>
<p>“My dear,” he said, strangled.</p>
<p>“Please,” she whispered, trying to capture him with her mouth again. Rubbing her clit wasn’t enough — at least with Maul in her mouth, Ahsoka could imagine what it would be like tightening around him again.</p>
<p>He strained as if holding himself back. “I shan’t finish like this, my Lady — not without you.”</p>
<p>“A little more?” she pleaded. “Please?”</p>
<p>His eyes rolled back when she took him anyway.</p>
<p>Maul’s growled oath, had Ahsoka rocking into her hand. She sighed around him, making a low, needy noise in the back of her throat that must have reverberated through Maul’s cock.</p>
<p>His fist hit the floor again, his thighs twitching.</p>
<p>He had remarkable self-control, she thought.</p>
<p>“Add another finger, love. Show daddy how you like it.”</p>
<p>Lifting her, Maul rose up, pulling her with him so that her mouth popped off him. He growled, tipping her head back and delving between her lips. His kiss was fire, her pleasure redirected to hands and teeth.</p>
<p>On her knees before him, Ahsoka let him push her legs open wider — let him guide her hands, their fingers slipping together as he helped her deeper, setting the rhythm that he liked before releasing her to watch. The other he wrapped into her hair so he could control where she looked.</p>
<p>“Good girl,” he purred, his nails scraping over her thighs. “Slower, darling. Don’t come for me yet. Slowly.”</p>
<p>Whimpering, she did her best to oblige him.</p>
<p>“Never be shy with me, Lady Tano. Never withhold — and know that your power over me is equally matched. Look at your Lord. Look at what you do to me.”</p>
<p>Her eyes fluttered open, his cock dripping pre-come before her — hard and proud and straight, slicked with her spit and ready for her. Ahsoka whimpered, tightening around her fingers.</p>
<p>“Kiss me,” she gasped, and he obliged, drawing her to him, tipping her backward so that her shoulders touched the mirror’s cold surface and she shuddered.</p>
<p>“Don’t stop,” he instructed, turning her from the hips so that he rose up behind her once more, pushing her to all fours. “Rub your clit, darling. I’ll give you what you need.”</p>
<p>“Please —” she gasped, and Maul drew her hand away to replace her fingers with the hard, hot press of his cock. He slipped inside her, sheathed to the hilt. Keening, she bucked beneath him — the feel of him stretching her out deliciously. As good as the first time.</p>
<p>Maul bowed over body, holding her there, peppering kisses across her shoulder-blades as she adjusted to the feel of him. To be in his arms, to be held by him and filled by him — it nearly sent her over the edge. Breathing hard, he kissed her neck, her shoulder, whatever skin he could reach. His arm crossed her chest, pulling her higher so that she could see their reflection — so she could watch the storm in his gaze as he kissed her throat and squeezed her thighs, her breasts, running fingers across the markings on her skin.</p>
<p>“Good —“ He shuddered, caressing her. “Good girl.”</p>
<p>She pushed back on him, his hands on her hips holding her in place.</p>
<p>“Not too much all at once,” he laughed. “You’ve near done me in with that filthy little mouth of yours.”</p>
<p>She thrilled at it — knowing what she’d done to him; that he liked it.</p>
<p>“Thank you, my Lord.”</p>
<p>He growled, pumping his hips to test resistance. Knowing how wet she was, he filled her easily and caught with a snap. She throbbed around him, fighting every urge not to move. Maul sighed, his eyes squeezed shut. “You feel so bloody good, Ahsoka, I don’t think I’m going to last much longer.”</p>
<p>“Touch me,” she whispered. “Touch me Maul, I’m close too.”</p>
<p>His hands smoothed down her back, to her hips, over her buttocks and up again.</p>
<p>“Gorgeous,” he murmured. “Mine.”</p>
<p>Reaching around to her front, his fingers found the bud of her sex, rubbing it with sure circles. She mewled, backing further into his lap.</p>
<p>“Yours,” she agreed.</p>
<p>His smile against her throat left her shivering.</p>
<p>Bending over her, his chest a wall of heat at her back, he withdrew slowly, pushing back in with a small kiss to her cheek.</p>
<p>“Like this?” he asked in a whisper.</p>
<p>She looped an arm around his neck, her eyes fluttering shut, her focus sliding to the feel of him grazing all her sensitive parts; to the sensation of clenching around his cock, wanting more.</p>
<p>“Yes, please.”</p>
<p>So he did it again.</p>
<p>She might’ve crawled up the glass, his pace so tortuously slow.</p>
<p>Cupping a breast with one hand, he rolled her nipple, pinching it so that she hissed. The depth of his thrusts remained long and slow and agonizing as he worked her clit.</p>
<p>Tightening around him, trying to better strike the part of her that needed the press of him, he added a little roll to his hips with each thrust that had her gasping.</p>
<p>His hand found her throat, drawing her chin up, keeping her in place with those long fingers tucked beneath her chin.</p>
<p>Growling into her ear, Maul bade her open her eyes. “Look at me when I’m fucking you.”</p>
<p>Searing heat — the blinding sort — bled from his gaze, leaving her riveted; devoured before him as he fucked her slowly and with a determination to make her break for him a thousand times over. No fear. Only focus. Ahsoka cried out, and he caught her chin, forcing her forward to watch.</p>
<p>“Good.” Maul shuddered, his gold eyes alight. “My good girl.”</p>
<p>She cried out, begging, “Maul —”</p>
<p>His smile was edged with something like victory as he dragged his tongue along the shell of her ear. He breathed, “Stay with me, Lady Tano. Together.”</p>
<p>She wasn’t certain anymore if he only meant the way it felt to be so close to the edge with him, but everything else too.</p>
<p>“Together.”</p>
<p>And Ahsoka slapped a hand to the mirror, right beside his, their fingers grazing as he thrust against her with all the fury and abandon that matched the fire in his eyes.</p>
<p>She couldn’t think of anything she wanted more.</p>
<p>He struck again at the spot that tipped her over, seizing in his arms with all the sensation of being lifted for one blissful moment, her cry an exaltation that threatened the darkness of oblivion — stars bursting behind her eyes. Maul roared after her, following her down in stammers and spurts, wringing out every last drop of sensation between them. They fell forward together, limbs quaking, sweat sticking their skin together as he drew the aftershocks from her body like waves beating against a rocky shore.</p>
<p>She was almost sobbing as he turned her face to his, catching her mouth, swallowing her sounds of pleasure and relief, turning them guttural between breaths. He pulled her close, shielding her body with his own as if to protect her — his hands in her hair, crushing her to him as they separated briefly so that he could pull her to his lap.</p>
<p>He stroked and petted, lauding her, fingers trailing over whatever skin he might reach.</p>
<p>And whimpering into his mouth, she laughed in the afterglow at how sudden and impossible it all felt: their meeting, their joining, and the surety that there was no force in the universe that might’ve stopped them anyway.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Have a great weekend folx. ;)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Hellebore</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Girlfriends/good friends. Obi-Wan. The Shadow Collective. Hades &amp; Persephone.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>CW: A little light Dom/sub and light degradation. Mentions of recreational drug use. Possible emotional manipulation (mileage may vary). Finger pistols. Female ejaculation.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Wednesday dawned and the ease at which Ahsoka had so skillfully dodged Rose’s closed office door to sneak into the cafeteria for a coffee left her wondering if she shouldn’t have considered a career in espionage instead.</p><p>Knowing that an explanation would eventually be necessary, she managed to buy herself a little more time by outfitting herself with one of Asajj’s pre-selected power outfits after being summarily pulled back to bed that morning by Maul, who’d proceeded to spoil his breakfast with a taste of her before the automatic brew on his coffee maker had even gone off.</p><p>She was still thinking about the hours in the pre-dawn, padding back to the dev department to wait out Obi-Wan for the meeting she’d scheduled to discuss Maul’s anti-virus project when the crack of gum against someone’s cheek alerted her to the fact that she wasn’t alone on the floor.</p><p>Sabine, propped up beside her office door, one boot against the wall, fixed her with a thousand-yard stare that almost made her trip up the clip in her stride.</p><p>Heat bloomed fast and hard in her face, and with a tip of Sabine’s head, Ahsoka knew she was completely busted. Ahsoka slapped her hand down before she could fiddle nervously with her blouse, or her hair, or anything else that might become a tell for the younger woman.</p><p>“You’re here early,” Sabine remarked.</p><p>“And you,” she returned.</p><p>Sabine’s eyes narrowed. “I wasn’t aware that the commute from Brooklyn was so… fast… at this time of day.”</p><p>Ahsoka pressed her lips together, asking perhaps a little too brightly at her friend’s scrutiny, “Obi-Wan in yet?”</p><p>“Tell me about Maul,” Sabine countered.</p><p>Cold shock spread through her chest, snuffing out her breath.</p><p>Sabine’s smirk was a thing of triumph — the kind of pondering that grew from a nagging suspicion into an “Ah-ha!” with enough contemplation and study. The girl was good.</p><p>“My office,” said Ahsoka, under her breath. She glanced behind her, and finding the floor empty, gave Sabine a nudge and a little wave of defeat.</p><p>After shutting the door behind her, and Sabine had tossed herself onto her couch, Ahsoka asked, “How?”</p><p>“How about we do this question for question. You ask one. I ask one. Even Stevens.”</p><p>Ahsoka folded her arms across her chest, her eyes narrowing.</p><p>“What can I say?” Sabine asked. “I’ve learned negotiation tactics from the best.” She jut her chin.</p><p>“Terms?” Ahsoka returned.</p><p>“I want to ascertain that you’re not going to regret what you’re doing.” She searched her. “Ezra —“ Sabine licked her lower lip into her mouth. Chewed it. “Ezra showed me some of the stuff he turned up on the dark web just before the acquisition.”</p><p>She let out a breath — tension unspooling. It felt as if the floor might melt right out from under her as she sagged. “<em>Oh</em>. That Shadow Collective stuff?” Ahsoka scoffed, but Sabine didn’t answer with a laugh of her own.</p><p>She laced and unlaced her hands — a futile gesture that Ahsoka was all-too familiar with. It meant that if whatever Ezra had speculated had enough clout to convince a skeptic like Sabine, Ahsoka would be remiss to not at <em>least</em> listen.</p><p>Levelled against her gaze, it became apparent the longer Sabine stared, the more serious the concern.</p><p>“Nothing leaves this room,” Ahsoka countered.</p><p>The younger woman nodded. “Understood.”</p><p>“How?” she asked again.</p><p>Sabine sat back. “Night of the party. Maul bridal carried you off to the bathroom half an hour after you dropped, so you were probably already rolling.” She shrugged. “He’s hot.”</p><p>Ahsoka groaned, squeezing her eyes shut. “It’s too early to start drinking. And yet —”</p><p>Sabine waved if off. “No one else noticed — and <em>trust</em> me: Poe and Ez have speculated. I’ve heard them.”</p><p>Ahsoka slunk to her desk, hopping to the surface after nudging her succulent from harm’s way.</p><p>“Okay.” She let out a breath.</p><p>“Is he a fuckboy?” Sabine lobbed back, like it was a game of catch and they were just chucking around a softball.</p><p>Making a face, she crossed her legs.</p><p>“I’ll take that as a no.” Sabine raised her eyebrows. “Interesting.”</p><p>“It’s verging on —“ She gestured. “You know.”</p><p>“A thing.”</p><p>“A thing. I mean, it could be a thing. It might already be a —”</p><p>“Thing.”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>Sabine nodded, rolling that around. “<em>Shit</em>,” she said, surprised. “How long?”</p><p>“That’s two questions in a row.” She blew out a breath when Sabine remained implacable. “Since the party. I didn’t see him over the weekend, but —”</p><p>“Okay. That’s okay — I can math.”</p><p>“What did Ezra find on him?” she asked.</p><p>Sabine scoffed. “On Maul? Nothing. On his partnerships?” She whistled. “Offshore investments. Multiple subsidiary ventures, several in tech. A ton of investment backers — some a little more, ah, questionable? Than others?”</p><p>“Spice?”</p><p>She nodded. “Yeah. It sounds like he was involved in some shit at one point, but the trail goes cold right around the time he was installed here as CEO. He’s awfully sparkly-looking at the moment, FYI.”</p><p>“Sparkly clean, or…?”</p><p>“Sparkly as in bling. Those ventures paid off. He’s made a killing cashing in on his previous efforts.” Her shoulders crept up, and Sabine gave her a defensive waggle of her fingers. “Cashed out a number of his holdings, but kept only a couple of his prized tech startups under his belt. Only the ones that directly align with Malachor Corp.’s roadmap.”</p><p>“Med tech.”</p><p>Sabine flashed teeth, making finger pistols and knocking off a few rounds. “You got it.” She blew off the barrel of her index finger. Spun it. Holstered it.</p><p>“And —“</p><p>“And?”</p><p>Sabine lifted a shoulder. “A champagne vineyard. France.”</p><p>Ahsoka frowned, thinking.</p><p>“It’s been four days,” Sabine reminded her. “I know what you’re thinking: you’re hoping for a lovely-looking rainbow-coloured redemption arc.” She leaned forward. “It’s soon to draw conclusions.”</p><p>The smile Ahsoka gave her was flattened into a thin line. She was right, of course.</p><p>“Still, it’s potentially dirty money that got him where he is.” Sabine shrugged.</p><p>“If that’s true.”</p><p>Sabine conceded, “If that’s true.”</p><p>Ahsoka searched her friend’s features for a moment. “You think I’m sleeping with the enemy.”</p><p>“I think you needed to get laid,” she admitted. Her eyes glittered. “I also think that villain fucking has its appeal.”</p><p>Ahsoka slipped off her desk, waving her hands before her in the effort to wave it away before it could stick. “Okay. That’s —“</p><p>Sabine grinned, rising. She put her hands on her hips, a small, shit-eating grin firmly in place.</p><p>Ahsoka rolled her eyes.</p><p>“He wants to <em>help</em> people.”</p><p>Sabine raised an eyebrow.</p><p>“We’re working on a project that has a <em>lot</em> of promise.”</p><p>She blinked. “You multi-tasked. Impressive.”</p><p>Ahsoka waved her to the door.</p><p>“He’s lovely to talk to,” she countered. “He’s clever, and forward thinking, and innovative, and driven.”</p><p>“<em>You’re</em> thirsty.”</p><p>Ahsoka deadpanned, “Parched.”</p><p>Stalling, Sabine came to a halt, her fingertips trailing the doorknob. At her lingering scrutiny, Ahsoka sighed. She shrugged, a little exasperated that she’d confess so much with hardly any prompting. “I caught feelings.”</p><p>“Hmm,” Sabine agreed. “Scared?”</p><p>Thinking about it for a moment, Ahsoka nodded. “Not of what he’s done,” she clarified. “Not of what he’s capable of either?”</p><p>“What then?” Sabine pressed.</p><p>She breathed a laugh. “The butterflies.”</p><p>The noise Sabine made at that was one of empathetic understanding. She got it: there was a way forward that seemed uncertain and somewhat precarious, but if the way wasn’t a little threatening, maybe it wouldn’t have seemed to have as much appeal as it did.</p><p>Sabine lifted a shoulder, consoling. “Past is past?”</p><p>She blew out a breath. “Hope so? It’s not like he keeps a rolodex of nefarious business contacts on his desk.”</p><p>Mischief glittered, making it apparent that Sabine spent entirely too long in Ezra’s company if she was picking up his traits. In an undertone, “You’ve had sex on his desk?”</p><p>“Ugh! Out!”</p><p>Chuckling, Sabine obliged, offering her a pinky in solidarity. “I won’t say a thing.”</p><p>“Good,” Ahsoka breathed, following her out to catch up with Obi-Wan, finally. “It’s your job if you do.” She took the pinky swear, giving Sabine a squeeze in return.</p><p>“Just —“ Sabine said, hesitating. “If he doesn’t make you happy —” She trailed off. Not, if he hurts you, or, if he turns out to be a shitlord… Part of her was grateful that Sabine gave him the benefit of the doubt. Ahsoka hoped her other friends would feel similarly, when it came time.</p><p>Ahsoka gave her friend a consoling, joking smile in return. She shrugged. “I’ll off him in his sleep.”</p><p>A smirk threatened on her friend’s face. “Cold. Looks good on you.”</p><p>She sauntered off with her hands in her back pockets, leaving Ahsoka to think perhaps a little too hard on the angles.</p><p>The past was the past.</p><p>Pursing her lips, she folded her arms, staring down at the toes of her Louboutins in contemplation. Trust was a complicated thing, and honesty was an enormous part of that. Could there be a future without the past?</p><p>She thought not.</p><p>However, she herself was living proof of a complicated history. Rarely were such things so cut and dry, and sometimes, even a person’s footprints only recorded partial truths.</p><p>One thing was certain: she trusted Maul enough to believe in his vision, and that suggested setting the gaze in one direction — forward.</p><p>Ahsoka blew out a breath, looking up as the elevator at the end of the hall beeped, opening onto the floor to admit a surprised Obi-Wan. His mouth fell open, and he grinned, genuinely pleased to see her.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>“An anti-virus for the human body,” he repeated.</p><p>Minutes later, coffees steaming on Obi-Wan’s desktop, he regarded her over steepled fingers, canted back in his swivel chair, with both elbows on either arm rest. The look he favoured her with was not… favourable… in the slightest.</p><p>Trying to keep herself relaxed, it was as if she could hear the gathering collection of protests as Obi-Wan stacked up the reasons why it was a bad idea to even consider the development of such a thing.</p><p>“A first line of defence,” she agreed. “At a preliminary level, we’d be investigating early detection and prevention, but a more sophisticated iteration of the road map might also consider application of certain types of healing.”</p><p>His silence spoke volumes.</p><p>She’d carefully neglected to mention the existing advances Maul had made, not to mention the bacta patch that she’d sampled. There hadn’t even been a scar — all evidence that she’d had her heel stomped down on Friday night erased from her skin utterly.</p><p>“You’ve already built a roadmap.”</p><p>She wrestled her face into a small smile. “Only in my imagination. Nothing on paper.”</p><p>Obi-Wan’s moustache twitched. “I’ve always admired your enthusiasm for a challenge, Ahsoka, but —“ He gestured, leaning forward. “Surely you can see that there’s a confidence issue with something of this nature? The cost of such an experiment — the risk it poses for anyone subjecting themselves to this particular type of technology —“ He shook his head. “The opportunity cost undermines everything we’ve stood for as a company.”</p><p>He laughed, his forehead crinkling. “In the wrong hands, something of that nature might prove disastrous.”</p><p>She frowned. “We wouldn’t let it,” she countered. “Our security protocols are already top-notch, and added to Malachor Corp.’s infrastructure, all our data is triple encrypted. There’s no way it could be mined —“</p><p>“What about hacked,” Obi-Wan countered.</p><p>She gave him a warning look.</p><p>He held up a hand, asking for patience. Ever the negotiator, he continued, “Anyone using these programmed nannites are subjecting themselves to our code. In the wrong hands — even in <em>our</em> hands, if we get it wrong — could prove disastrous.”</p><p>She frowned. She’d expected more foresight from Obi-Wan of all people. “We build failsafes. Immediate kills for the bots.”</p><p>He raised an eyebrow, unimpressed by her choice of terminology.</p><p>“A universal deactivate,” she corrected herself. “Obi-Wan,” she said leaning forward. “I thought we wanted to be on the leading edge of the scientific curve. We could <em>do</em> this.”</p><p>“Not with Malachor’s interests as they are. I’ve seen the projections — this is entirely too risky an endeavour.”</p><p>“We’re talking about potential millions —”</p><p>“In revenue?” He gave her The Look.</p><p>“In lives saved,” she countered.</p><p>He exhaled. He folded and unfolded his hands.</p><p>Obi-Wan wore his sleepless nights under his eyes and in the slight shake of his hands — the far-off look he struggled with when trying to stay focused. Grief did different things to different people; trying to fight against it often only prolonged having to negotiate it, and while the man might’ve been stoic, she could tell he was trying to bury himself in his work.</p><p>The next question he asked her surprised her enough to push her back into her chair:</p><p>“Do you trust this company, Ahsoka? Do you trust Malachor Corp.?”</p><p>Blue eyes, clear but heavy, settled on hers: her equal and partner now, requesting her confidence in a place where he was uncertain. It was so different than the days where he had been the teacher and she the student. Different even with Anakin between them, guiding her to do better; to be better. Different because she’d never seen Obi-Wan uncertain.</p><p>She told him what she had ascertained for herself moments before: “I trust that through them, we have the resources at our disposal to ensure a better future for a lot of people.”</p><p>She smiled a little, softening.</p><p>“That’s an enormous responsibility,” he said.</p><p>A smirk threatened.</p><p>“When have you been worried about that?”</p><p>He sat back. “Never,” he agreed. “My concern is what happens with this product when it’s rolled over to another team, or it grows, or executive interest changes the direction of the platform — there isn’t a control for something like it, not in this environment. We aren’t who we were as Rebel Inc., Ahsoka — we have stakeholders now. Many of them. And many of them are not so adventurous.”</p><p>No wonder Maul had been furious, she thought.</p><p>“And let’s say — hypothetically — the code falls into the wrong hands —” He held up a hand before she could protest, requesting patience. “Who’s to say they won’t re-write the code to suit their own ends? Who’s to say the same nannites that could heal a rash wouldn’t cause a blot clot?”</p><p>“There are tons of workarounds, Obi-Wan. We would ensure all failsafes are in-place. We make the programming impenetrable. The problem is trying to execute on too much, too fast. Fix a surface wound,” she said. “Cure the common cold.”</p><p>“I understand that you appreciate a challenge —”</p><p>“I’m not being impulsive, Obi-Wan —“</p><p>“No one is going to pay the amount of money that it takes for a gram of nannites injected into the system to ensure that they don’t get the sniffles,” he countered.</p><p>Frustrated, finally, Ahsoka said, “Then let’s attempt to cure cancer.”</p><p>“I think you’re getting ahead of yourself, little one.”</p><p>She stilled, anger catching her up.</p><p>Obi-Wan shut his eyes a little longer than a standard blink, collecting himself. He held up a hand, asking for patience at the slip. No one called her that anymore, not since —</p><p>“<em>He</em> would have supported this.”</p><p>The words hung, and sunk, striking with the desired effect.</p><p>A tightness around Obi-Wan’s eyes belied his disappointment that she’d use Anakin in this argument for leverage, but she knew it was true:</p><p>Anakin had been all about projects like these — high velocity, high risk, high payout, high reward jobs. Anakin thought big picture. Obi-Wan worried about the details.</p><p>“He isn’t around anymore.”</p><p>Ahsoka flinched. Involuntary, it hit like a slap — her heart clenching at the reality in which she now found herself: it felt a little like a freefall; an untethered, directionless plummet without a safety net, without someone to catch her.</p><p>Just like the day Anakin had stopped answering her calls — the day he’d vanished.</p><p>Obi-Wan, clearly, hadn’t heard anything from him either. Not, judging, by the look he fixed her with: one part remorseful, one part despair. Both were sentiments she understood altogether too clearly, having negotiated them herself more times than she wanted to recall over the course of the past six months.</p><p>“We could at least <em>try</em>.”</p><p>“This is just the beginning of our partnership with Malachor, Ahsoka —“ he tried, as if that settled the matter. As if the opportunity on the table should gather dust while they waited, and the world continued to suffer.</p><p>If there was a guiding principle that overrode anything, it was this: In Ahsoka’s life, when there were people who needed help, you <em>helped</em> them. No matter what.</p><p>She thought of Maul’s last cautionary words. He’d told her what to expect from his Board, but not her direct manager. Maybe those concerns expressed by her team about seeing their little company change under the new direction wasn’t unwarranted after all.</p><p>All great truths began as blasphemies.</p><p>Ahsoka blew out a breath, forced a smile, and rose. She was perfectly cordial when she said, “Thank you for your time,” but didn’t wait for an answer, and she didn’t turn back at the sigh of disappointment when Obi-Wan called after her.</p><p>She just kept walking.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>Even at a distance, he knew something was wrong when Ahsoka stalked from the elevator onto his floor. Behind glass walls, it was imprudent to show any surprise at her sudden appearance, but from the purpose in her walk and the swing in her hips, her absent smile, and the cold twinkle of starlight in her gaze, he thought she appeared as if she might tear down the heavens in a breath.</p><p>His cock twitched.</p><p>He stifled a groan, and pursing his lips, he punched the intercom.</p><p>“Clear my schedule through lunch,” he informed his secretary.</p><p>Through the glass walls, Maul could see Hux, in his office, straightening at his desk — his attention snapping left. That so few of his employees ventured this far without invitation was of interest enough, but Tano?</p><p>Hux would notice Tano. <em>Anyone</em> would notice Tano.</p><p>Especially as she was: an avenging, winged thing descending to smite and ruin whatever dared cross her.</p><p>An impenetrable heat assailed him, her gaze sharpened by frustration. He thought for a moment of Kenobi, and wondered at what state she’d left him in. She’d intended to speak to him of their side-project that very morning, and doubtless, she’d not gotten the answer that she’d hoped for.</p><p>She barely paused before his secretary’s desk, her gaze on him fixed. A small, cordial smile of thanks, and she paused by his door, collecting herself no doubt. The play of emotions around her mouth as she balanced her composure gave him a moment to see she’d outfitted herself in a pleated chiffon dress that cinched neatly at the waist, the skirt loose and flowy and soft:</p><p>Pale grey, but shifting under the light like a storm cloud.</p><p>Sleeveless, so that he could see the marks on her arms.</p><p>The only makeup she wore touched her eyes and her mouth.</p><p>Unadorned, the marks on her skin were beautiful. And she was furious but tempered.</p><p>He smoothed a hand down his front, interest leaving him tethered to his seat, his inability to stand and greet her a secondary consideration.</p><p>She’d left him hard as a rock, and they hadn’t even said hello yet.</p><p>Maul sank back into his chair, beckoning her to join him. A small, interested smile lit his features as she pushed through the door.</p><p>“Ms. Tano,” he greeted her, letting his voice carry for any interested parties.</p><p>The door snuffed shut behind her, and he purred in a tone only meant for her, “To what do I owe the pleasure?”</p><p>She slowed to a stop, her shoulders falling, some of the venom seeping from her as she regarded him in surprise while he took her in from toe to top.</p><p>“Forgive me,” he continued. “I’d stand up but then everyone on this floor would be made aware of just how spectacular I thought that entrance was.”</p><p>She blushed, huffing a laugh. Some of the tension spooled from her shoulders.</p><p>“Were the glass walls a purposeful design decision to keep you behaved?” she asked.</p><p>He raised an eyebrow. “Hardly. Rather I think they make our situation all the more interesting.”</p><p>Her blue eyes darkened. She chewed the inside of her lip, wrestling with a smile.</p><p>“Better?” he asked.</p><p>“Thank you,” she said, expelling a breath.</p><p>“Please.” He gestured to a chair.</p><p>She sank into it, crossing her legs at the ankle. A moment later, she’d collected her thoughts. “I approached Obi-Wan about our project.”</p><p>Maul blinked, long and understanding. “I imagined so.”</p><p>“He was not receptive.”</p><p>He arched an eyebrow, conceding that too. “Unsurprising. There’s a reason the Board appointed him as interim CEO following Skywalker’s departure. He fit the profile they wanted.” At her head tilt, he explained, “Cautious, fastidious, and unlikely to break the rules.”</p><p>She sank back, the fabric of her dress pulling shapely lines across her front. Maul forced his gaze to her collar, the elegant lines of Ahsoka’s throat and jaw, the purse of her lower lip as she considered other recourses.</p><p>“I have a suggestion,” she said, something flickering in her gaze. “Providing you still want to move forward?”</p><p>He nodded.</p><p>“But first there’s a matter that I need to discuss with you.”</p><p>She crossed her legs, the drape of her fingers too casual over the arms of the chair.</p><p>Rather than the wide-eyed innocence she so often favoured him with, her gaze shuttered. Beneath heavy lashes, Maul got the decided impression that she was inspecting him for tells: taking him in to best gauge what he looked like at his most relaxed.</p><p>Whatever was coming was meant to measure his sincerity.</p><p>“You’re going to ask me something I won’t like,” he said.</p><p>“I am.”</p><p>Even. Level. The hair on the backs of his arms prickled in mingled dread and excitement.</p><p>“Tell me about the vineyard,” said Ahsoka.</p><p>Oh, he thought. <em>That</em>.</p><p>He tipped his head, scrunching his nose a little at her, not yet ready to relax, but admiring her frankness.</p><p>“Your efforts to overturn a few stones was fruitful,” he said, licking his lips. “You never fail to surprise me, my Lady. But this isn’t just about Krug.”</p><p>Surprise registered. She hadn’t known that part, it seemed.</p><p>“Rather lovely grape selection. I’d developed a fondness for their ’95 Clos d'Ambonnay. They wouldn’t let me have the rest of their stock from that year, so —” He half-shrugged. “I bought their cellars.”</p><p>She blinked, the near-imperceptible flicker of her irises as she searched him displaying surprise, admiration, and a little bit of astonishment. Krug was a terrible luxury, but judging by her expression, Ahsoka already knew as much. Krug made Moet seem like gutter piss with a cork in it.</p><p>His eyes narrowed, appreciating the pretty part of her lips — how soft they seemed, how inviting —</p><p>“What you’d like to ask about is my previous holdings, because doubtless you’re aware of those I kept and those I sold, as Krug was one of a handful that I retained in the aftermath of a full-scale spring cleaning. I’m sure you’ve deduced why?”</p><p>Her fingers curled around the arms of her chair.</p><p>“So, it’s true then?”</p><p>He searched her. “Which part, dear heart? The efforts to wash my hands of any previously tainted affiliations, or the fact that in doing so, I implicated myself in a legal battle of such enormity that it’s taken several years, a dozen private clean-up crews, and some of the best bloody hackers on the planet to ensure no trace of the mess was left behind — not to mention millions in legal fees — or, something else?”</p><p>She blinked. “You --“</p><p>“Have a clean slate,” he informed her, warming.</p><p>Ahsoka blinked, and she let out a breath. “But you were part of the Shadow Collective.”</p><p>Surprise registered — he let it lift his eyebrows and shape the sound of amusement that fell. “Ahsoka —” he leaned forward. “I <em>was</em> the Shadow Collective.”</p><p>
  
</p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>Those gold eyes held hers with the utmost, unnerving calm. Maul licked his lower lip, frowning. “I made a few strategic, albeit controversial choices in my youth,” he explained. A glance at the back of his hand, and he laughed. Holding it up, he showed off the tattoos on his skin — his knuckles; he gestured at himself. “Perhaps you’ve noticed?”</p><p>The scary part was that she detected no untruth. He wasn’t lying.</p><p>Maul frowned. “I amassed a certain amount of influence, with the help of my brother,” he said. “I was young and overconfident, perhaps, and perhaps I didn’t overturn every stone. Some of my… ah… associates had previous dealings that were not so wholesome. Hasty,” he said of himself. “I’ve since learned to be somewhat more thorough in investigating my business partners.” He raised an eyebrow.</p><p>“The spice trade,” she gathered.</p><p>He waved a hand. “I’ve never traded spice myself, but the media rarely nitpicks as such.” He conceded, “Given that I was the head of the operation and the face of it after it was publicized, no one would separate <em>me</em> from the Pyke Syndicate and their primary source of income. The circus made certain of that.”</p><p>She sank back in her chair, her stomach doing a nervous flip-flop.</p><p>“I severed all ties and made my restitutions years ago,” he said, a small frown forming between his eyes. “I had to, to take on this mantle. I gave it all up.” He smiled, curious and a little amused. “It was part of the agreement in appointing me as CEO. Privately, of course.”</p><p>“Why?” she breathed. “Why are you telling me this?”</p><p>His eyebrows crept upwards, and then he softened minutely, leaning forward. “Don’t you know?”</p><p>The sound of her pulse battering behind her eyes had the cadence of a drum, fuzzy and softened by the black that threatened. So much candour wasn’t afforded to just anyone, and the weight of what he entrusted her with in confessing it left her mouth dry.</p><p>The weight of his gaze left her clutching the arm rests, unable to move. Breathing hard, she didn’t quail under his gaze. It was a possessing thing — the heat of it pressing through her as if he meant to brand her.</p><p>“You are an extension of my will, Ahsoka. In all things.”</p><p>Some part of her had accepted this already; a compact made by the heart and the body and the soul — it was only her brain that was a little slow to catch up. He was trusting her with the facts. He was trusting her with his ambitions. He trusted her with his <em>dog</em>.</p><p>What remained unsaid lit Maul’s gaze with something that, under other circumstances, may have been premature — but the fire of that emotion stood stark on his features: an obvious, silent confession of his deepest sentiments.</p><p>It thrummed through her, to know what power he’d given her over him in that non-confession.</p><p>“You,” he said instead, quietly, “are mine. And I am yours.”</p><p>As simple and as complex as that.</p><p>Ahsoka let out a breath. “Thank you,” she told him.</p><p>“Ask of me what you will,” he said. Nothing was taboo, he’d said. Clearly, she’d mistaken the offer for the depths of possibility that “nothing” encompassed. “As the questions come to you, my Lady.” He held her gaze. “My Queen.”</p><p>For a second, Ahsoka held the burning question in her mind that perhaps the Kingdom he offered her was actually the underworld; and she, unsuspecting, had waltzed straight into Tartarus unknowing. She pushed the thought aside as roughly.</p><p>“You mentioned you had a potential solution for our little problem,” he said softly.</p><p>Nothing but earnest interest, his concern at her growing silence leaving him draped partways across his desk in the effort to be nearer. She swallowed her fluttering heart, finding herself warm between her thighs — her arousal as much a surprise as her tongue sticking to the roof of her mouth.</p><p>Ahsoka looked down, forcing herself to stop squeezing her knees together.</p><p>Maul’s gaze followed, dripping down her front as if he knew what he’d done to her too. He eased back in his chair, his gaze darkening.</p><p>Glass walls, she reminded herself, forcing a little breath out. She did her best not to squirm.</p><p>Solutions. Right.</p><p>“I have five,” she said. “I need a location.”</p><p>Maul’s gaze turned hungry the longer he stared. He glanced past her shoulder to the left, and then to the right, and then back to her.</p><p>“Uncross your legs,” he said quietly. “Do it slowly.”</p><p>Her heart hammered.</p><p>Complying, she eased the right over the left, easing back into her chair as she did. The sides were covered — the bucket seat accepting her form as if it were meant for lounging. Moulded plastic. Mid-century reproduction. Little Eiffel Tower legs.</p><p>“Would the brownhouse suffice?” he asked, his mouth half-covered by his hand. The place he’d taken her on their first night together. She barely remembered it.</p><p>Maul’s gaze slid up her calf, resting a moment at her knee. He tipped his head, and she parted her legs for him just a little. Two inches at best. Still discreet.</p><p>“Whatever you need will be provided directly to that address.”</p><p>That golden gaze darkened to bronze as his attention flicked back to her face.</p><p>Her heart pulsed between her thighs, a driving rhythm that left her breath hitching.</p><p>“Access to the existing prototype,” she said. “The databases. The application. The servers. The hardware.” She took a breath. “I’ll forward you an equipment list.”</p><p>He nodded.</p><p>Tension spooled low and hot in her belly, the sensation of warm wetness slicking her panties when she shifted a surprise, but not unwelcome.</p><p>Too much, too soon.</p><p>A small smile threatened as if Maul knew himself what he was doing to her.</p><p>“Take your panties off for me.”</p><p>In the descending silence, Ahsoka thought he might be able to hear the jackhammer of her heart. Breathing hard, she held his gaze.</p><p>Shaky, she managed on a puff of air, “<em>Maul</em>.”</p><p>He waited, staring.</p><p>“Someone will see,” she whispered. She couldn’t turn around. She couldn’t tear her gaze from his. Her stomach gave a little quiver, hyper-sensitized to the number of possibilities that could branch from this one moment. So dangerous. So indiscreet. Hux had been in his office, just across the hall on her way in. Was he still there? Her nipples raked against fabric, and she bit down on her lip to stop from whimpering.</p><p>Maul, unable to tear his gaze away, purred, “Trust me.”</p><p>Shaking, her hands dropped to her lap.</p><p>She did, didn’t she?</p><p>Smoothing her hands down her thighs, the fabric of her skirt bunching.</p><p>She did, she thought. Maul wouldn’t leave her exposed. Maul wouldn’t humiliate her.</p><p>His voice slipped across her skin, silken and easy. Soothing. “Look at me, Ahsoka.”</p><p>And there was nothing but raw desire in his gaze.</p><p>Nothing but admiration.</p><p>She eased her skirt up, watching him as the chiffon dragged up her thighs. He didn’t look down as she angled her hips, hooking her thumbs into the waistband as the pleats puddled and shifted between her legs. Sinking her hands back down to her knees, she took the ridiculous scrap of lace and satin with them, scrunching the garment as small she could, and swept it off her ankles.</p><p>She folded it into a small, wet little knot in her fists, clamping them in her lap as if to hide the evidence of her indiscretion.</p><p>Her exhale came out a shudder, and she shut her eyes.</p><p>Quietly, Maul said, “Give them to me.”</p><p>Moisture slicked her thighs — if she wasn’t careful, she’d ruin her dress. Without the little lacy bit of cloth covering her, her arousal left her quivering — her body alert to every brush and shift of the delicate cloth as she shifted her weight to her hip, and then to the edge of her seat.</p><p>Maul shook his head, a smile threatening as he took in her discomfort.</p><p>“I want you to stand up,” he said. “Lean across this desk with your arse out for everyone to see you’ve no panty lines, and place them in my hand.”</p><p>He unfurled his palm, but didn’t move any closer.</p><p>“Here.”</p><p>She licked her lower lip into her mouth, her breathing thready now, and did as he asked. Stretching, her hips pressed into the edge of glass, she extended her hand to place the crumpled ball on his palm. His fingers brushed hers, tracing fire over her knuckles.</p><p>The slip of chiffon against the backs of her thighs nearly wrecked her, and landing back on her heels, she ducked her head, swiping at the back of her skirt so that the fabric could fall away from her skin.</p><p>Too good, she thought, breathing hard — the collision of all those sensorial inputs at once leaving her lit from within; hyper-aware and quivering. It was too much, almost.</p><p>She looked up to find Maul watching her, a small smile threatening, something wicked in his gaze as he rubbed his thumb into her panties, finding the silk soaked through.</p><p>A moment later, he’d vanished them into his pocket, regarding her with something barely contained; something dark.</p><p>His voice was little more than the rumble of a storm about to strike, “Good girl.”</p><p>It was an effort to keep her knees from buckling as she pushed herself back from his desk.</p><p>Her heart racketed a rhythm that left her jittery and shaking, thrumming through her body in a beat that echoed the pulse between her legs.</p><p>“Miss Tano,” Maul hazarded, rising to standing. He slanted his gaze down at her, buttoning his jacket and adjusting the cuffs — the picture of nonchalance. “I’m feeling somewhat peckish. What are your plans for lunch?”</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>Her shoulders struck the back of the door, the vacant conference room at the end of the hall being the one opaquely-walled room with a lock on it that was available. Floor to ceiling windows. A large table. Neatly arranged chairs. Maul lifted her up by the thighs, his head already between her legs, one knee over his shoulder, the other following as he tore back her dress, exposing her.</p><p>He hiked her up, using the door for leverage, and sat her on his shoulders.</p><p>Wet heat engulfed her, and darkness threatened.</p><p>Ahsoka threw her head back, reaching for him but finding only the back of his head to caress as he tongue darted into her, lapping up the mess she’d made of herself in his office minutes before.</p><p>Unable to help herself, she cried out, his fingers sinking into her flesh as he devoured her.</p><p>She rocked against him, perched on his shoulders and aching for more of him —</p><p>His fingers. His cock.</p><p>He held her up by the hips, delving deeper, driving her further towards bliss, his nose rubbing up against the bud of her sex like the tease it was — not giving her nearly enough pressure — but that wasn’t the point:</p><p>Clutching at the backs of his ears, she mewled, rocking her hips to rub herself against the flat of his tongue.</p><p>Pulling back, he gasped briefly into her thigh, “Yes, fuck my face, love.” And proceeded to smother himself with her once more.</p><p>Ahsoka sank down the door an inch, the muscles of her stomach quaking.</p><p>“More,” she whimpered, and he tore away with a hungry snarl.</p><p>His chin dripped with her juices, but the gleam in his eyes was purely predatory. Maul bared his teeth in a rictus grin, near feral as he dragged that tongue through her folds, sliding over every soft dip and valley, squeezing the fleshy part of her ass as he watched her panting above him.</p><p>“Maul,” she whimpered. “Maul, <em>please</em> --“</p><p>Maul let her go, catching her about the waist and dragging her up as he stood like she weighed nothing at all. They swung around, and in two strides, he’d delved into her mouth, spreading her out on the conference table, her legs falling apart for him as he yanked her closer.</p><p>Shedding his jacket gave him more maneuverability, and he tore it off himself as she arched to meet him. Gathering her to his chest — his hands roved over her, leaving her mewling as he pushed apart her lips and dragged his tongue against hers. Ahsoka made a small, desperate noise in the back of her throat as he tipped her back by the neck. Smiling into the kiss, the press of his thumb just beneath her jaw left her puddling before him.</p><p>“Clean me up,” he breathed, kissing her again.</p><p>She shuddered, reaching for him, but he caught her hands.</p><p>“Not like that.”</p><p>Her arousal glistened on his cheeks and chin, and heart pounding, she kissed his jaw. Maul hmmed, and tentatively, she gave his cheek the smallest lick.</p><p>Chuckling darkly, his purred approval left her quaking. She tried for a longer stroke, her insides molten, his fingers sliding down her arms as she settled her hands on his chest.</p><p>“Every drop, Ahsoka,” he whispered. “Kiss me when you finish so I can taste you on your tongue.”</p><p>She shuddered, clenching on air as he pushed back her dress, leaving her exposed to the gentle drag of his fingers as she licked the mess he’d made from his chin.</p><p>Maul’s eyes fluttered shut, his breath catching.</p><p>She paused before his mouth, touching the tip of her tongue to his lower lip, asking for entry.</p><p>He sighed into her with a smile, welcoming her into the heat and warmth of his mouth as easily as he dragged his thumb down the inside of her thigh, pushing right up against the nub of her sex as his fingers unfolded her easily. Two of them. Right to the knuckle as if to leave her full and aching with him, and still needing more.</p><p>“Delicious,” he murmured, the drag of his touch so soothing that she sighed into him, her back arching as he worked her deeper, each thrust steady, slow, and strong. His other hand wound into her hair at the back of her head, arching her backwards a little so that he might draw away and appreciate the look on her face.</p><p>“I love watching you,” he said against her mouth. Eyes fluttering and half-slit, she leaned back for him as he continued his ministrations. “My dirty little thing, legs spread for me, rocking into my hand. Did you want me to fuck you?” he asked conversationally. His thumb rubbed small, aching circles around her clit, drawing her tighter around his fingers, leaving her sighing. The hand in her hair gripped her, stopping just short of pain but fully in his control. He leaned in, his mouth brushing the shell of her ear. “Were you thinking of what I’d do to you back in my office? Did you think I’d set you on the edge of my desk like this, for the whole fucking company to see as I stripped you naked and held you down as I gave you exactly what you deserved — spread wide, pinned to my desk, begging me to fuck you?”</p><p>Her lips parted, and addled by the heat of that unyielding touch, she breathed, wanton and weak, “Yes.”</p><p>Maul shuddered, licking the taste of her from his lips. “Good <em>fucking</em> girl,” he said, kissing her again.</p><p>His fingers slipped from her, the sound of his fly and buckle being undone lost under the roar in her ears. Ahsoka groped for him, the loss of contact at her most sensitive and heightened leaving her chasing the feeling of his hands and mouth --</p><p>“Do you want this?” he breathed.</p><p>And she gasped, feeling the lightest brush of his cock against her; too much a temptation to resist. Rubbing the head against her folds, he slicked himself with her moisture, easing into her an inch, and then four, and then completely. Ahsoka’s head fell back, and throbbing, she clung to him with her knees.</p><p>“Like that, love,” he whispered into her throat, breathing hard. Maul stroked her back, peppering kisses across her cheeks and forehead, letting her sink into the sensation, rocking her hips into him, as he waited for her to settle.</p><p>And Ahsoka let him lay her back, her limbs unable to hold her anymore as Maul’s touched became soothing strokes that pinched and petted and squeezed her, leaving her mewling, writhing to take more of him deeper, wanting everything he could possibly offer, not too proud to beg.</p><p>Those gold eyes were narrowed to satisfied slits as he caressed her face, his large hand setting at her collar; her throat. Ahsoka’s eyes fluttered, her desire almost debilitating. This time, she needed him to take care of her. This time — she gave herself over to the sensation entirely.</p><p>“Just like that,” he soothed as he began to fuck her.</p><p>For a moment, it was all Ahsoka could do as she arched and stiffened, the slapping sound of his body against hers a punishing pleasure. He didn’t yield, he didn’t stammer, and as he gathered her legs together to wrap her tighter around the pace he set, he pressed a kiss to her calf with a grin.</p><p>“So tight,” he whispered into her skin, his gaze half-lidded.</p><p>Setting her legs on either shoulder, he yanked her towards him, bearing down harder with each thrust.</p><p>Ahsoka made a guttural noise, the sensation of his balls slapping her ass a rhythm she couldn’t match. Hot and hard and full, he wanted to see her come apart. He was waiting for her to scream for him.</p><p>Carding a thumb between her thighs, he struck into the little inlet made by her legs — her skirt ridden up completely. Notching against her clit, his strokes slowed to long, lengthy sweeps that left her writhing as he applied just the right amount of pressure to feel her clench on his length.</p><p>He chuckled. “The noises you make for me, my dear — I’m sure they’ll hear you down the hall. Any moment now, someone could walk right in and see you spread like this, wanton and wet, almost begging.”</p><p>She gasped, “The door —”</p><p>The grin he gave her was edged with something dangerous.</p><p>He rolled his thumb against her clit, and mouth falling open, she sobbed a gasp as she tightened on him. Maul stroked her thigh, clasping her legs to his chest, making sure she couldn’t move. A moment later, he tossed both her knees to one side. With her knees together, each stroke of his cock felt as if he’d split her.</p><p>“I forgot to lock it.”</p><p>Darkness threatened behind her eyes, her body seizing involuntarily as he chuckled.</p><p>Her heart hammered, but he cupped her jaw — forcing her to watch him instead of the door.</p><p>“Scared?”</p><p>She whimpered, everything inside her pulled taut and teetering on the edge of that mad descend that beckoned. She reached for him, and he pressed a kiss to her palm, his breathing turning erratic as each thrust bucked her higher.</p><p>“More,” she whimpered, and Maul growled as he obliged her. Ahsoka’s mouth fell open — her hips taking the brunt of a fervour that bordered on violence. At her centre, she reached for a quiet thread of black peace: oblivion through pleasure.</p><p>The orgasm that took her crept through, spilling through her body in a wave that arched her off the table. The wet slap of skin and heat, Maul’s dappled thighs, painted with her arousal. Dripping with it.</p><p>His strangled, “Fuck,” was a distant, distracted thing, followed by a surprised laugh as he let go over her legs, his thumb stroking her over sensitized bud in just the right way, and then —</p><p>Then the feeling exploded through her:</p><p>Ahsoka’s mouth fell open, stars exploding across her vision, and it guttered through her body — wrenching her up towards him, uncontrolled and howling his name.</p><p>Too late, he reached for her mouth to smother the sound, but the feeling crested, undulating and taking her down with it.</p><p>Distantly, “I think you may have squirted, love.” His appreciative, surprised laughter.</p><p>She thought she might’ve blacked out for a moment.</p><p>When she came to, Maul had pulled her upright to sitting. Cradled in his arms, his fleeting look of concern left her smiling dazedly up at him.</p><p>She licked her lips, touching his face with an easy familiarity.</p><p>“Hi,” she said.</p><p>He raised his eyebrows, huffing a sharp laugh. “Mad, woman,” he muttered, kissing her as she grinned into his mouth. “Hello,” he answered, brushing a braid off her shoulder. She grinned, and he was the first to look away. She thought she saw a little bit of pink colour his skin beneath the marks on his cheeks.</p><p>“What is it?” she asked.</p><p>He snuck a glance. “Forgive me, dear,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “You appear thoroughly fucked.”</p><p>She lifted her shoulders, her tensions forgotten. She gave him a coy little look over one shoulder, and asked, “Who’s fault is that, I wonder?”</p><p>Maul paused, his lingering touch warming her through the chiffon.</p><p>Some lingering bit of predatory possessiveness left him hovering, pressing into her body again as though she required the support. Her arm slipped around his waist as he arranged her dress for her so that her modesty was covered. He drew back, looking her over. “Can you get out of here for the afternoon?” Maul asked.</p><p>A glance down revealed Maul’s pants around his ankles, still.</p><p>“I love your confidence,” she said.</p><p>He released her, making sure she wouldn’t go boneless again. Concern marked him, which she thought was sweet, but he arranged himself and re-dressed without concern for the mess they’d painted his thighs with.</p><p>He said, delving into a pocket, “I had this made for you to gain access to the penthouse.” Handing her an electronic keycard, he continued, “It’ll work in the elevator, which will admit you to the sixty-sixth floor without further security checks. I’ll have the Brownstone added to it.”</p><p>Maul paused, searching her features. “Is that alright?”</p><p>For a moment, she didn’t quite know what to do with her hands, so she wiped at an imaginary spot she’d missed on his chin.</p><p>“It’s yours, you know.”</p><p>She watched his adam’s apple bob, his nerves that were so frequently concealed from everyone else becoming apparent to her, the longer they shared each other’s company.</p><p>“For this project, or to retire to, or —“ He shook his head. “If you need the respite. Or as we discussed, for a work space.”</p><p>She took the card from him, her gaze never leaving his face. “Thank you, Maul.”</p><p>His lips parted, surprise registering, and then he looked down with a small frown.</p><p>“What is it?”</p><p>He shook his head, dumbfounded. Perhaps a little confused. “I — I was nervous? I thought you might decline.”</p><p>She touched his cheek, and then his heart, giving him a small, warm smile. He clasped her hand to his chest with his own, disbelief working through him, and then relief. He warmed a little, and brought her fingers to his mouth, kissing the knuckles.</p><p>“You said it yourself,” she reminded him, raising her chin. “I am yours.”</p><p>He kissed her fingers again, breathing a sigh. “Honestly, I was just posturing when I said that — you know, playing the ‘Lord Maul’ card for effect —”</p><p>“Maul,” she warned.</p><p>A slight twist of his mouth turned it up at the corners. He was playing with her, his sense a humour as much a defence mechanism as it was endearing.</p><p>She warmed to it.</p><p>“I appreciate your candour with me,” she said. “Before.”</p><p>Sobering, softness stole into his gaze. He looked away before she could make something of it, steeled over with the visual effects of a man sheltering his more vulnerable parts.</p><p>“I will always endeavour to be so forthright, my Lady.”</p><p>He straightened, releasing her. “Now.” He glanced pointedly at the door. “Shall we? There’s the matter of equipping you properly at our satellite space, and I’d like to go over the details as soon aspossible. If we can have you up and running by tomorrow, all the better —”</p><p>“Maul,” she said, watching him pause halfway to the door.</p><p>He turned, mid-thought, already reaching for the handle.</p><p>“You have my panties in your pocket.”</p><p>He stared, lifting an eyebrow.</p><p>“Oh, is that all?” he asked. “I was beginning to grow concerned that I’d fucked you hard enough that you couldn’t walk.”</p><p>He opened the door, stepping into the hall with a small smirk hitched into the corner of his mouth. Giving her an abbreviated bow from the waist, he gestured towards the elevators as he left her sitting there, stunned.</p><p>Maul tossed over his shoulder, “I’ll have the car brought ‘round, then?”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Please advise that while I've kept a fairly rigorous posting schedule up until today, I regret that the next few updates to the conclusion may be a bit more erratic. File under: real life. </p><p>Thank you for reading, and as always, hit me in the comments to spur me onwards. It always helps. </p><p>&lt;3 october</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm on <a href="http://octobertown.tumblr.com">Tumblr</a> if you're looking for bonus content, art inspo for this fic, or the soundtrack. (Also if you're a Daddy Maul Stan and you just want to chat, I'm here for it.)</p><p>&lt;3 october</p></blockquote></div></div>
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